Presented  by 

Wesley  M.  Barrett  , 


Sr. 


COLLEGE  OF  OSTEOPATHIC   PHYSICIANS 
AND  SURGEONS  •  LOS  ANGELES,  CALIFORNIA 


Q?!&F&fi<fif*®fi^$P&fl^&^ 


I  f 


FIFTH  EDITION,  REVISED  AND   CORRECTED. 


A  NEW  PATH 

IN 

ELECTRICAL  THERAPEUTICS: 

AN    ACCOUNT   OK 

THE   AUTHOR'S   GREAT    DISCOVERY 

OF 

ELECTRICAL  CRANIAL  DIAGNOSIS, 

AND  THK  SCIENTIFIC  APPLICATION   OF 

DIFFERENT  CURRENTS  OF  ELECTRICITY 

TO   THE  CURE   OF   DISEASE. 

A  BRIEF  TREATISE  ON  ANATOMY  AND  PHYSIOLOGY 

AN   HISTORICAL   ACCOUNT   OF   THE    DISCOVERIES    IN    MAGNETISM 

AND   ELECTRICITY,  THE    PROGRESS   OF   MEDICAL  SCIENCE, 

AND   BRIEF  SKETCHES   OF  THE   LIVES   OF   EMINENT 

PRACTITIONERS,  FROM    THE    EARLIEST   AGES 

TO   THE    PRESENT    CENTURY; 

ALSO 

A   THOROUGH    SYSTEM    OF   HYGIENE; 

TO  WHICH  AHE  ADDED  PLAIN  DIRECTIONS   FOR   THE  TREATMENT 

OF   DISEASE    BY    THE    AUTHOR'S    SYSTEM    OF 

ELECTRICAL   APPLICATIONS. 

BY 

ELIZABETH   J.   FRENCH. 


'Witness  that  she  who  did  these  things  was  born  to  do  them ;  claims  her 
license  in  her  work." 


PHILADELPHIA: 

J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT    COMPANY. 
1886. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1886,  by 

ELIZABETH    ).   FRENCH, 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress  at  Washington. 


TO 
JOSEPH    FRENCH, 

CIVII.   ENGINEER   AND   LATE  SUPERINTENDENT  OP   THE    PITTSBURGH    CITT 
WATER   WORKS, 

IN   MEMORY  OF  A  NOBLE  LIFE,  DEVOTED  TO  THE  INTERESTS  OF 

SCIENCE  AND  THE   SERVICE  OF   HUMANITY;    A  WARM 

HEART  AND  AN   HONORED   NAME, 

THIS    VOLUME    IS    INSCRIBED, 

AS  THE  FITTEST   MONUMENT  IN  WHICH   UNDYING  AFFECTION 
CAN   FIND   EXPRESSION, 

BY    HIS    WIDOW, 
ELIZABETH    J.    FRENCH. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

INTRODUCTORY. 

PACK 

Reasons  for  publishing  this  volume — The  author's  claims — Dem- 
onstration of  popular  errors  and  malpractices — New  system  of 
diagnosis ;  its  discovery  and  application — Different  electrical 
currents — Anton  Mesmer;  his  famous  aphorisms  and  pro- 
phetic perceptions  of  electrical  uses — Electrical  discoveries — 
Animai  and  mineral  magnetism  among  the  ancients — Mytholo- 
gical ideas  of  the  loadstone — Magnetism  in  the  Middle  Ages — 
History  and  practice  of  Mesmer — The  French  Academy  of 
Sciences — Jenner,  Franklin,  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  Galvani, 
Volta,  and  other  discoverers  in  magnetism  and  electricity — Dis- 
eases treated  by  electricity — The  electric  vapor-bath — The  au- 
thor's discoveries  and  practice 9 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  HUMAN   ORGANISM  ANATOMICALLY  AND    PHYSIOLOGICALLY 
CONSIDERED. 

Character  of  standard  works — Use  and  abuse  of  medical  and 
anatomical  terms — Organic  and  inorganic  matter — The  human 
structure  ;  its  composition,  organs  and  tissues — The  skeleton — 
Thorax  —  Abdomen  —  Viscera  —  Extremities —  Membranes  — 
Nerves — Blood — Muscles — The  heart,  and  respiratory,  circula- 
tory, and  digestive  organs — Processes  of  life  .  .  .  .24 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  HUMAN  ORGANISM,  CONTINUED— THE  BRAIN  AND  NERVOUS 
SYSTEM. 

Nerve-action — Importance  of  the  nerve-functions  and  their  study 
— Cellular  formations — Living  and  dead  matter — The  life  prin- 


Viii  CONTENTS. 

PAGB 

ciple — Nerve  aura  and  electricity — Popular  opinions,  and  the 
author's  views  on  life  and  electricity — The  cerebro-spinal  and 
sympathetic  systems — The  brain,  spinal  cord,  cranial  and 
spinal  nerves — Motor,  sensory,  and  reflex  action — The  marvels 
of  cranial  diagnosis — Opposition  of  the  faculty — Bold  affirma- 
tions and  defense  of  the  author's  claims  as  a  discoverer  and 
practitioner — General  argument 42 


CHAPTER  IV. 
MATTER  AND   FORCE. 

Definitions  and  relations  of  mind — Force  and  matter — Popular 
theories  and  their  fallacy — Electricity,  galvanism,  magnetism, 
as  forces  in  the  universe — Restoration  from  drowning  by  elec- 
tricity—  Deaths  by  lightning — Restoration  of  a  paralyzed  side 
from  a  stroke  of  lightning — The  powers,  practices,  and  future 
possibilities  of  electrical  therapeutics 60 

CHAPTER  V. 

THE  CRANIAL   DIAGNOSIS. 

Fallacy  of  symptomatic  indications  in  disease — Injuries  produced 
by  diagnosing  the  body  electrically  to  find  the  seat  of  disease — 
Malpractices  in  electricity  and  galvanism — Antagonism  of 
medical  practitioners  to  the  author's  system — History  of  the 
cranial  diagnosis  and  its  discovery — The  rationale  of  health, 
disease,  and  cure — Special  diseases  and  their  remedies  .  .  72 

CHAPTER   VI. 
ELECTRICITY. 

Whether  a  force,  fluid,  or  mode  of  motion — The  name,  whence 
derived — Amber  workers — Effects  of  heat,  moisture,  airs,  etc. 
— Dr.  Gilbert — Hermes — Mercury — Magnetic  needles  and 
batteries — Voltaic  piles — Arago,  Oersted,  Faraday,  Coulomb, 
Ampere — The  author's  batteries 82 

CHAPTER   VII. 

ELECTRICAL   TREATMENTS. 

Combination  batteries — Diagnosing  and  its  necessity — Directions 
for  the  use  of  the  battery  and  domestic  practice  in  general — 
Directions  for  treatment  in  the  cure  of  special  diseases — Grand 
and  infallible  cure  for  drunkenness 96 


CONTENTS.  ix 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

HYGIENE. 
Part  I. — Gymnastics — their  Use  and  Abuse, 

FACT 

Necessity  of  gymnastic  exercises — Plea  for  movement-cure — The 
Greek  and  Roman  gymnasts — Athletes  and  gymnasia — Use, 
abuse,  and  status  of  gymnastic  practices no 

Part  II.— Food  and  Drink. 

Physiological  methods  and  classifications  in  diet — Fallacies  of 
physiologists — Effects  of  climate,  occupation,  and  temperament 
— Tea — Coffee — Alcohol — Times  and  seasons  for  meals — 
Methods  of  cooking  and  consuming  food — French  cookery — 
Importance  of  chemical  knowledge  in  cookery  .  .  .114 


CHAPTER  IX. 

HYGIENE— CONTINUED. 

Part  III.— Ablutions. 

Duty,  necessity,  and  charm  of  cleanliness — Absorption  and  evap- 
oration— Cutaneous  obstructions  and  their  effect — Duty  of  the 
medical  profession  in  respect  to  ablutions — The  religious  sys- 
tems of  the  ancients  in  connection  with  ablutions — Bathing; 
its  uses,  abuses,  and  different  kinds — Best  time  to  bathe — 
Cleanliness  in  the  sick-room  .  .  .  .  .  .  .124 

Part  IV.— Ventilation. 

The  imperative  necessity  of  free  ventilation — The  constituent 
elements  of  atmospheric  air — Adjustment  of  the  system  to  all 
other  impure  emanations  than  those  of  the  human  body — Ven- 
tilation of  rooms,  sleeping-apartments,  public  buildings,  ships, 
etc. — Common-sense  rules  for  common-sense  people  .  .128 


CHAPTER  X. 

HYGIENE — CONTINUED. 

Part  V. — Dress. 

Admissible  concessions  to  fashion — Dangers  of  exposure  and 
muffling — Full  dress — Small  waists — Heavy  skirts — Chignons 
— Cosmetics — Care  of  the  teeth — Shoes,  stockings,  vests,  silk 
and  woolen  garments — The  day  of  small  things  all-important  .  134 


x  CONTENTS. 

Part  VL— Late  Hours. 

PAOB 

Nature's  laws  and  man's  innovations  on  seasons  of  rest — Summary 
of  physiological  ideas 140 

CHAPTER  XI. 

MEDICAL    PRACTICE;     ITS    ANTIQUITY,    ORIGIN,    HISTORY,    AND 
PROGRESS. 

Differences  of  health  in  savage  and  civilized  states — Causes  of 
physical  degeneracy — Hygiene  —  The  healing  art  among 
savage  tribes — Egyptians,  Greeks,  and  Romans — ^-Esculapius 
and  his  sons — Hippocrates — Aretreus — Galen — Systems  of  an- 
cient Greek  physicians — The  Arabians — Alchemists — The  Ital- 
ian and  Spanish  schools — The  first  medical  school — Increase 
of  medical  colleges — Physicians — Priests — Barbers — Surgeons 
and  Apothecaries — University  degrees — Rosicrucians — Para- 
celsus— The  mystics — Dissection,  when  first  practiced — Vesalius 
— Harvey  and  his  discoveries — Circulation  of  the  blood — Haller 
— Dr.  Wm.  Hunter;  Mr.  John  Hunter:  their  splendid  anato- 
mical museums — Note  to  chapter  ix.,  on  the  degree  and  title  of 
doctor 143 


CHAPTER  XII. 
THE  STATUS  OF  MEDICAL  PRACTICE  FROM  1750  TO  1873. 

Dr.  Jenner  and  his  discovery  of  cowpox — Gall,  Spurzheim ; 
their  discoveries  in  phrenology — Sir  Astley  Cooper ;  his  daring 
and  successful  surgery ;  immense  income ;  royal  cures  and 
favors — Dr.  Abernethy  ;  his  talents,  successes,  and  eccentricities 
— Bichat,  the  physiologist — Sir  Charles  Bell — Dr.  John  Bell — 
Hahnemann — The  history  and  progress  of  homoeopathy,  hy- 
dropathy, and  various  other  systems  of  cure — Electricity — Close 
of  the  review 165 


CONCLUDING  CHAPTER. 
A  GENERAL  REVIEW  AND  SUMMARY. 

Authoritative  utterances  on  the  identity  of  electricity  and  the  life 
principle — Extracts  from  the  writings  of  Mackintosh — Singular 
experiment  of  lifting  a  heavy  body  on  the  finger-tips — Develop- 
ment of  spontaneous  life  by  Mr.  Crosse 186 


CONTENTS.  Xi 


PAGB 

Supplement  to  Authoritative  Utterances       .....  197 
"  Is  Medical  Electricity  a  Science?"    A  Lecture, by  Prof.  E.  J. 

French 203 

References 212 

Testimonials 215 

A  FEW  REMARKABLE  CASES  OF  CURE— LETTERS,  TESTIMONI- 
ALS, ETC. 219 


A  NEW  PATH 

IN 


ELECTRICAL  THERAPEUTICS. 


CHAPTER   I. 

INTRODUCTORY. 

AFTER  forty  years  of  most  arduous  study  and  indus- 
trious research  into  the  principles  of  medical  elec- 
tricity, together  with  a  vast  range  of  practical  experi- 
ence in  the  results  of  its  application  as  a  therapeutic 
agent,  I  feel  it  a  duty  incumbent  upon  me  to  give 
those  results  to  the  world,  and  to  announce  that  I  am 
able  to  prove,  both  in  theory  and  practice,  that  elec- 
tricity scientifically  applied  is  the  safest,  most  reliable, 
and  most  universally  beneficial  of  all  curative  systems 
yet  known  to  mankind. 

I  have  frequently  been  urged  by  those  who  have 
been  cured  by  my  treatments,  or  others  who  have 
listened  with  interest  to  the  announcement  that  the 
clue  was  found  which  would  enable  the  medical  faculty 
to  wield  the  mysterious  force  of  electricity  with  all  the 
precision  of  an  exact  science,  to  publish  the  records 
of  my  experience  and  share  this  valuable  discovery 
with  those  who  would  be  equally  interested  in  it  with 


10  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

myself;  but  not  until  time  has  ripened  opinions  into 
knowledge,  and  deepened  experiments  into  certainties, 
could  I  be  induced  to  challenge  the  preconceived 
opinions  of  the  world  on  the  vague  character  of  elec- 
tricity as  a  curative  agent,  and  affirm  unhesitatingly 
that  medical  electricity  can  be  understood  and  applied 
as  a  science,  far  more  exact  in  its  laws  and  workings 
than  any  other  remedial  agent  now  in  practice. 

This  stand-point,  however,  I  may  now  venture  to  say, 
I  have  attained.  I  know  that  the  laws  which  govern 
electrical  forces  are  as  stringent,  yet  as  comprehensible 
in  medical  treatment,  as  in  the  working  of  the  mag- 
netic telegraph.  I  claim  to  have  attained  to  some 
knowledge  of  those  laws,  and  to  have  gained  a  correct, 
though  of  course  only  limited  understanding,  of  how 
to  apply  them  for  the  cure  of  disease. 

I  claim  to  have  demonstrated  the  pernicious,  and 
even  fatal,  error  of  using  electricity  in  unscientific 
methods;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  I  am  prepared  with 
an  army  of  living  witnesses  to  prove  the  astounding 
successes  which  ensue  from  the  application  of  this  force, 
when  regulated  by  the  subtle  powers  which  I  find  resi- 
dent in  the  different  currents  evolved  from  carefully 
constructed  batteries.  Another  result  still  more  re- 
markable, namely,  the  power  to  give  invariably  correct 
diagnoses  of  disease,  has  opened  up  in  my  path  of  dis- 
covery, thus  revealing  all  the  hidden  mysteries  of  the 
human  organism  to  the  searching  eyes  of  science. 
The  day  of  half-formed  speculations,  doubtful  guesses, 
and  merely  symptomatic  indications  is  at  an  end. 
The  assumptions  of  half-lucid  ignorance  and  half- 
enlightened  somnambulism  fade  away  into  the  land  of 


INTR  OD  UCTOR  Y.  1 1 

dreams,  from  whence  so  many  of  such  revelations  have 
originated,  and  science,  with  all  the  nobility  of  simple 
fact,  ungarbled  truth,  and  demonstrable  principles, 
arises  to  illuminate  the  realms  of  speculation,  and 
elevate  the  system  of  therapeutics  to  the  very  same 
pedestal  occupied  by  pure  mathematics. 

About  one  century  ago,  Friedrich  Anton  Mesmer, 
whilst  still  laboring  to  evolve  the  doctrine  of  a  uni- 
versal magnetic  force  existing  throughout  the  universe, 
published  twenty-seven  aphorisms,  in  which  are  the 
following  remarkable  views  of  the  possibilities  which 
electricity  and  magnetism  might  yet  open  up  to  the 
physician.  Mesmer  says: 

"No.  8.  In  human  bodies  are  discovered  properties 
which  correspond  with  those  of  the  magnet.  Also 
various  opposite  poles  may  be  distinguished,  which  can 
be  imparted,  changed,  disturbed,  and  strengthened." 

"No.  22.  From  instances  deduced  from  my  firmly- 
established  and  thoroughly-proved  rules,  it  will  be  easily 
perceived  that  this  principle  can  immediately  cure  dis- 
eases of  the  nerves" 

"No.  23.  Through  its  assistance  the  physician  re- 
ceives much  light  regarding  the  application  of  medic- 
aments, whereby  he  can  improve  their  operation,  call 
forth  more  beneficial  crises,  and  conduct  them  in  such 
wise  as  to  become  master  of  them." 

"  No.  25.  Through  this  knowledge  the  physician  will 
be  enabled  to  judge  of  the  origin,  progress,  and  nature 
even  of  the  most  intricate  diseases,  and  bring  about  a 
cure  without  exposing  his  patient  to  dangerous  effects 
and  painful  consequences,  whatever  be  the  age,  sex,  or 
temperament  of  the  patient." 


12  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

"No.  27.  The  doctrine  will,  at  length,  place  the 
physician  in  such  a  position  that  he  will  be  able  to 
judge  the  degrees  of  health  possessed  by  any  man,  and 
be  able  to  protect  him  from  the  disease  to  which  he 
may  be  exposed.  The  art  of  healing  will  by  this 
means  attain  to  its  greatest  height  of  perfection." 

The  day  of  realization  for  these  bold  and,  at  that 
time,  apparently  transcendental  aphorisms  has  now 
dawned. 

If  I  can  justify  my  claim  to  have  fulfilled,  not  in  one 
but  in  scores  of  instances,  the  possibilities  promised  by 
the  Viennese  doctor, — if  I  can  prove  that  the  science 
whereon  my  system  is  founded  can  be  reduced  to 
mathematical  laws  taught  with  unfailing  precision, 
entered  upon  the  page  of  stern  scholarship,  and  take 
its  rank  among  the  fundamental  laws  which  underlie 
creation, — I  can  no  longer  withhold  the  great  discovery 
from  the  world,  nor  keep  back  from  public  investigation 
the  results  which  my  twenty-five  years'  labors  have 
achieved. 

As  I  cannot  in  this  treatise  show  the  varieties  of 
forms  in  which  electrical  diagnoses  and  treatments  of 
diseases  operate,  I  must  urge  upon  my  readers  to  peruse 
attentively  the  few  cases  which  I  have  selected  from 
hundreds  of  others  in  verification  of  the  stupendous 
curative  powers  which  I  claim  for  my  system. 

The  evidence  of  many  authentic  writers  assures  us 
that  the  practice  of  healing  by  means  of  magnetism 
was  in  use  among  the  ancients,  who  applied  it  as  a  part 
of  their  most  sacred  mysteries. 

Among  the  ancient  Persians,  Hindoos,  Greeks,  and 
Romans,  many  evidences  exist  that  the  priests  under- 


INTR  OD  UCTOR  Y.  r  3 

stood  and  applied  the  forces  of  the  magnet  in  aid  of 
their  religious  services.  Their  chief  methods  of  heal- 
ing the  sick  were  conducted  through  the  practices 
of  animal  magnetism,  strengthened  by  the  influence 
evolved  from  magnetic  stones,  crystals,  etc.  Their 
temple  sleep,  ablutions,  and  purifications  were  only 
adjuncts  to  the  curative  powers  evolved  from  magnets, 
and  it  is  now  understood  that  the  twin  deities  Castor 
and  Pollux,  who  performed  such  a  prominent  part  in 
heathen  mythology,  were  symbolical  impersonations  of 
the  opposing  yet  correlative  polarities  found  in  the 
magnet. 

During  the  Middle  Ages,  magnetic  arts  seem  to  have 
been  lost,  or  only  practiced  incidentally;  but  in  the 
eighteenth  century  they  were  revived  by  Mesmer,  a 
physician,  born  at  Meersbtirg,  Suabia,  in  1734,  and 
who  was  said  to  have  learned  them  from  Maximilian 
Hell,  a  professor  of  astronomy  in  Vienna. 

Mesmer  first  attracted  public  attention  by  a  re- 
markable thesis  upon  planetary  influence ;  in  which 
he  contended  that  the  planets  were  the  centres  of  an 
all-pervading  fluid,  which,  transmitted  through  the 
atmosphere  to  the  earth,  affected  plants,  animals,  and 
human  beings.  From  this  point  he  extended  his  theory 
until  he  taught  that  the  forces  evolved  from  batteries, 
magnets,  and  human  organisms  could  be  made  availa- 
ble in  the  cure  of  disease ;  and  in  this  form  he  termed 
their  operations  "animal  magnetism." 

Proceeding  to  Paris,  Mesmer  succeeded  in  forming 
a  sort  of  stock  company,  in  which  some  of  his  admiring 
followers  invested  large  sums,  and  by  aid  of  which  he 
was  enabled  to  hire  an  elegant  mansion  in  the  Place 

2 


1 4  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

Vendome  and  give  demonstrations  of  his  art  surrounded 
with  all  the  attractions  of  luxury  and  fashion.  The 
members  of  his  society  were  to  be  instructed  in  the 
marvels  of  his  science;  and,  as  he  succeeded  in  effecting 
many  remarkable  cures,  it  is  no  wonder  that  he  soon 
achieved  a  high  reputation  for  his  mysterious  acquire- 
ments no  less  than  for  his  skill  as  an  accomplished 
physician.  Dr.  Anton  Mesmer  became  the  fashionable 
sensation. 

His  seances  attracted  the  highest  nobles  of  the  land  ; 
even  Queen  Marie  Antoinette  became  a  patroness  of 
the  new  therapeutic  philosophy,  and  his  salon  was 
crowded  with  great  lords  and  fair  ladies,  all  eager  to 
become  participants  in  the  marvels  of  his  practice. 

His  custom  was  to  receive  his  patients  in  a  magnifi- 
cently furnished  apartment,  in  which  the  sound  of 
distant  music  and  the  influence  of  a  soft  light,  subdued 
by  hangings  of  the  choicest  hues  and  texture,  contrib- 
uted to  impress  the  senses  with  a  mystic  and  fascinating 
influence.  A  vat  or  tub  was  placed  in  the  centre  of 
the  salon,  filled  with  magnets,  metallic  rods,  and  other 
substances  deemed  at  that  time  useful  in  the  elimination 
of  the  magic  electrical  flow,  and  this  vat  was  so  arranged 
that  conducting  rods  were  carried  from  the  main  battery 
to  each  of  the  parties  to  be  operated  upon.  Mesmer's 
early  method  of  practice  and  their  results  have  been  so 
often  described  by  various  authors  that  it  is  only  neces- 
sary to  add  that  the  magnetic  currents  arising  from 
the  "  baquct"  combining  doubtless  with  the  delicious 
sounds  of  music,  the  mysterious  gloom  of  the  apart- 
ment, and  the  striking  effects  of  the  operator's  presence 
and  influence,  all  contributed  to  produce  strange  and 


INTR  OD  UCTOR  Y,  1 5 

often  curative  results  upon  the  temperaments  of  those 
assembled. 

Mesraer's  practice  was  in  the  first  years  of  his  dis- 
covery undoubtedly  more  experimental  than  purely 
scientific.  The  results  too  of  his  curious  combinations 
of  mechanical  and  psychological  appliances  tended  to 
weaken  his  claims  for  acceptance  on  scientists ;  still,  he 
produced  effects  in  the  cure  of  disease  far  too  obvious 
and  striking  to  be  overlooked,  or  to  merit  contemp- 
tuous denial  from  any  mind  capable  of  appreciating 
the  indications  which  lead  into  untrodden  paths  of 
science. 

Dr.  Anton  Mesmer,  whose  methods  had  already  in- 
terested the  king  and  queen  of  France,  was  advised 
by  his  majesty,  himself  the  President  of  the  French 
Academy  of  Sciences,  to  lay  the  results  of  his  observa- 
tions upon  the  existence  of  a  universal  fluid  and  its 
application  to  curative  purposes  before  that  distin- 
guished body  of  savants,  whose  office  it  was  to  investi- 
gate all  scientific  subjects.  The  result  of  this  applica- 
tion (made,  as  has  been  above  stated,  at  the  suggestion 
of  King  Louis  XVI.)  was  not  only  adverse  to  the 
propositions  of  Mesmer,  but,  by  the  contemptuous  tone 
in  which  the  report  of  the  academicians  was  given,  it 
was  supposed  the  doctor's  claims  to  scientific  appreci- 
ation would  be  forever  quenched  and  his  doctrines 
exploded.  History  has  sufficiently  demonstrated  that 
the  real  assumptions  of  ignorance  in  this  case,  like  that 
of  thousands  of  others,  might  with  much  more  force 
have  been  applied  to  the  self-styled  scientists  than  to 
the  ill-appreciated  discoverer. 

Mesmer's  theory  was  not  exploded  by  the  arrogant 


1 6  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

criticisms  of  the  Academy.  His  practice  continued  tc 
produce  results  fruitful  for  good  in  many  parts  of  the 
continent  of  Europe  besides  Paris ;  and  though  he  sub- 
sequently suffered  much  from  the  world's  ingratitude 
and  died  at  a  very  advanced  age  in  extreme  obscurity, 
his  doctrines  were  kept  alive  by  numerous  enthusiastic 
followers,  and  still  continue  to  offer  foundation-stones 
for  the  many  splendid  superstructures  of  new  truths 
in  physics,  which  the  world  of  forces  is  opening  up 
to  us. 

It  may  not  be  amiss  here  to  insert,  for  the  benefit  of 
those  who  intrust  all  matters  of  opinion  to  the  keeping 
of  scientific  bodies  and  graduates  of  old  and  well- 
beaten  paths,  the  comments  of  Dr.  Justinus  Kerner, 
the  celebrated  German  scientist,  and  author  of  a  fine 
biographical  sketch  of  Mesmer,  when  remarking  upon 
the  action  of  the  French  Academy  of  Sciences  in  re- 
jecting the  doctrine  of  animal  magnetism.  Dr.  Kerner 
says  t 

"It  must  be  remembered  that  the  same  Academy 
rejected  Franklin's  discovery  of  the  lightning-con- 
ductor, and  Jenner's  discovery  of  cow-pox.  When  the 
first  model  of  a  steamship  was  presented  to  the  Em- 
peror Napoleon,  he  desired  the  Academy  to  test  the 
value  of  this  discovery,  and  hereupon  the  wisdom  of 
the  academicians  led  them  to  declare  the  invention  to 
be  wholly  impracticable  and  the  idea  untenable.  At 
a  later  period  the  French  emperor  was  heard  to  de- 
clare, '  How  foolish  I  was  not  to  have  relied  on  my 
own  simple  understanding,  rather  than  upon  the  opin- 
ions of  learning  masked  by  prejudice  and  blinded  by 
scientific  bigotry  !'  To  this  conclusion  I  think  every 


JNTR  OD  UCTOR  K  1 7 

advocate  of  new  tniths,  and  every  disciple  of  progress 
in  scientific  unfoldments,  will  devoutly  cry  amen  !" 

In  1786  Galvani  discovered  and  announced  the 
existence  of  animal  electricity.  He  was  bitterly  op- 
posed by  Volta,  and  sustained  by  Humboldt ;  but  it 
was  not  until  Prof.  Carlo  Matteucci  had  added  the 
weight  of  his  evidence  that  Galvani's  theory  was  ad- 
mitted to  be  correct. 

Finally,  Dubois-Reymond  established  the  fact  that 
"  the  muscles  and  nerves,  including  the  brain  and 
spinal  cord,  are  endowed  during  life  with  an  electro- 
motive power,  which  acts  according  to  a  definite  law." 

In  1831  this  question  came  before  the  Royal  Acad- 
emy of  Medicine  in  Paris,  when  a  committee  decided 
in  favor  of  the  claims  of  animal  magnetism.  This 
committee  comprised  nine  of  the  most  distinguished 
men  in  France,  and  its  decision  gave  at  once  a  strong 
impetus  to  the  new  science.  Its  study  and  practice 
extended  into  Great  Britain  and  America,  and  it  was 
adopted  and  advocated  by  such  men  as  Von  Reichen- 
bach,  Dr.  Elliotson,  Dr.  Gregory,  Dr.  Ashburner,  and 
a  few  gentlemen  of  equally  high  standing  in  their  pro- 
fession, who  not  only  advocated  the  use  of  electricity 
but  adopted  it  in  their  own  practice. 

While  Mesmer  and  others  were  operating  in  animal 
magnetism,  Mons.  Jallabert  had  succeeded  in  affecting 
a  case  of  paralysis  favorably.  Still  later,  Abb6  Sans 
and  Sigaud  de  la  Fond  were  operating  successfully  in 
paralytic  cases.  In  fact,  it  began  to  be  generally  con- 
ceded that  electricity  might  be  made  useful  in  con- 
ditions of  paralysis,  nervous  affections,  or  disturbed 
circulation. 


jg  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

Attempts  were  made  to  use  the  Leyden-jar  in  medi- 
cal treatments,  but  its  effects  proved  rather  injurious 
than  otherwise,  from  the  severity  of  the  shock  it  occa- 
sioned. As  early  as  1803  certain  appliances  began  to 
come  into  use,  which  showed  that  the  new  practice  was 
gaining  ground;  these  were  metallic  brushes  with  insu- 
lated handles. 

The  idea  of  galvanism  or  electricity  eliminated  from 
a  battery  and  applied  to  medical  uses,  originated  in  the 
experiments  of  Humboldt  on  the  muscular  and  nervous 
fibres;  but  Aldini,  the  pupil  of  Galvani,  was  the  first 
who  made  this  branch  of  the  subject  a  matter  of  special 
study,  and  who  published  his  conclusions  to  the  world. 
This  he  did  in  Bologna,  in  1804,  in  a  work  entitled 
"Theoretical  and  Experimental  Essay  on  Galvanism." 

A  few  years  later  we  find  gout,  rheumatism,  and  ner- 
vous affections  being  treated  by  electricity,  its  appli- 
cation to  the  dispersion  of  tumors  and  aneurisms, 
through  the  medium  of  needles  connected  with  a  bat- 
tery, beginnin'g  to  find  considerable  favor.  By  the 
year  1828  public  interest  in  the  medical  uses  of  elec- 
tricity amounted  to  enthusiasm,  and  numerous  treatises 
upon  the  subject  appeared  in  France,  where  it  was 
more  especially  being  investigated. 

In  nervous  affections,  and  even  in  derangements  of 
the  sight,  its  power  as  a  remedial  agent  was  acknowl- 
edged to  be  remarkably  manifest. 

It  was  finally  adjudged  by  a  large  majority  of  one 
Continental  faculty  that  "  whilst  electricity  could  not 
be  considered  as  an  actual  specific,  yet  its  power  as  a 
remedial  agent  rendered  it  a  most  important  adjunct  in 
the  treatment  of  certain  diseases." 


INTR  OD  UCTOR  Y.  x  ^ 

Under  the  influence  of  this  authoritative  admission, 
the  popularity  of  electrical  treatment  soon  spread 
through  Italy,  Germany,  and  England.  It  has  also 
been  introduced  into  several  public  hospitals,  besides 
entering  largely  into  private  practice. 

Whatever  the  ultimate  combination  of  forces  may 
be  which  produces  in  animated  beings  the  result  so 
vaguely  called  the  "life  principle,"  I  claim  that  there 
is  in  the  human  system  a  sufficient  number  of  phe- 
nomena accompanying  nervous  and  muscular  action 
to  demonstrate  that  the  said  "life  principle"  is  some- 
thing analogous  to  electricity,  and  that  this  force 
properly  distributed  throughout  the  system  maintains 
it  in  health,  and  when  disturbed  results  in  disease. 

As  the  electric  forces  of  the  human  system  are  sim- 
ply modifications  of  those  which  vitalize  nature  at 
large,  it  follows  that  any  excess  or  diminution  in  their 
quantity,  or  any  impoverishment  in  quality,  may  be 
supplied  by  a  judicious  administration  of  the  electric 
battery. 

'  It  is  upon  this  basis  that  my  system  of  electrical  thera- 
peutics operates.  I  may,  in  fact,  state  here  that  my 
theory  of  the  electrical  force  in  its  connection  with 
the  human  organism,  recognizes  it  as  the  actual  life 
principle. 

Also,  I  assume  that  the  human  organism  in  a  healthy 
condition  contains  just  so  much,  and  no  more,  of  this 
fluid  as  suffices  to  maintain  it  in  its  highest  condition  ; 
whilst  any  loss  or  disturbance  of  the  normal  quantity 
of  electricity  involves  a  derangement  not  only  in  the 
flow  of  that  fluid,  but  in  all  the  motions  and  functions 
of  the  body,  and  that  this  derangement  is  disease. 
2* 


20  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

Any  undue  determination  of  this  fluid  to  any  specific 
point  not  only  disturbs  the  equilibrium  of  the  whole 
organism,  but  produces  (when  that  determination 
occurs)  a  morbid  condition.  I  consider  that  examples 
of  this  may  be  found  in  the  forms  of  disease  called 
pleurisy,  pneumonia,  neuralgia,  tic-douloureux,  inflam- 
matory rheumatism,  softening  of  the  brain,  etc. 

In  these  cases  there  is  an  excess  of  the  electric  fluid 
in  some  special  direction,  owing  to  the  proper  channels 
for  its  passage  having  become  clogged,  or  to  its  having 
been  improperly  diverted  from  its  natural  course.  The 
result  is  inevitably  a  morbid  and  congested  condition  in 
the  part  affected. 

Of  course  the  primary  object  in  such  cases  is  to 
renew  the  normal  flow  of  electricity  through  the  sys- 
tem, either  by  removing  the  obstructions  in  its  path, 
or  by  opening  other  channels  for  its  passage. 

Where  there  is  any  lack  or  diminution  of  the  electric 
currents,  there  is  a  corresponding  loss  of  vital  power: 
as  in  paralysis,  torpid  action  of  the  liver,  kidneys,  or 
bladder,  etc.  In  such  cases  the  normal  condition  can 
only  be  restored  by  stimulating  the  flow  of  the  electric 
fluid. 

In  disordered  circulation,  sluggish  action  of  the 
blood,  etc.,  the  electricity  is  wanting,  the  vitality 
gone,  and  until  this  is  restored  the  circulation  remains 
in  an  unhealthy  condition. 

Such  an  application  as  I  am  in  the  habit  of  making 
in  these  cases  is  always  followed  by  renewed  action  in 
the  circulation,  and  by  such  sensations  in  the  deadened 
parts  as  announce  the  influence  of  the  vitalizing  electric 
currents. 


MTR  OD  UCTOR  Y.  2  X 

From  the  success  which  attended  my  first  treatments 
of  nervous  disorders  by  electricity,  as  far  back  as 
twenty-five  years  ago,  I  was  induced  to  apply  it  to 
other  diseases,  and  I  have  found  it  more  or  less  effica- 
cious in  treating  all  forms  of  suffering.  In  fact,  I  have 
found  in  hundreds  of  instances  its  superiority  over 
every  other  mode  of  remedial  art. 

Unfortunate  or  unsuccessful  results  of  the  electrical 
treatment  may,  in  all  cases,  be  attributed  to  faulty 
methods  in  the  treatment  itself,  and  to  ignorance  or 
an  improper  understanding  of  the  laws  which  govern 
the  circulation  of  this  fluid,  and  which  should  control 
and  direct  its  administration. 

I  was  led  to  the  adoption  of  the  vapor-bath  as  a  me- 
dium for  the  administration  of  electricity  after  thor- 
oughly testing  the  dry  application  and  the  use  of 
water-baths,  by  finding  the  first  less  effective  and  the 
latter  often  injurious.  I  accordingly  adopted  the  use 
of  the  vapor-bath,  and,  in  1854,  first  established  this 
method  of  treatment  in  New  York. 

At  that  time  it  was  generally  believed  by  medical 
men  that  the  application  of  electricity  in  a  temperature 
of  more  than  100°  Fahrenheit  would  endanger  life. 

Believing  that  this  theory  was  a  fallacy,  I  made  the 
experiment  before  Drs.  Massey  and  Page  at  a  tempera- 
ture of  135°  Fahrenheit,  the  result  of  the  experiment 
being  to  prove  that  my  theory  of  the  safety  of  such 
applications  was  entirely  correct.  Since  then  I  have 
applied  electricity  in  a  case  of  cholera,  at  a  tempera- 
ture of  145°  Fahrenheit,  using  the  strongest  battery 
then  known,  and  applying  a  current  now  denominated 
in  my  battery  A-D  Eliminating.  It  is  my  usual  prac- 


22  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

tice,  however,  to  apply  the  fluid  in  a  temperature  rang- 
ing from  100°  to  110°  Fahrenheit. 

It  has  been  at  length  conceded,  even  by  the  medical 
faculty,  that  the  use  of  electricity  is  particularly  avail- 
able in  the  treatment  of  nervous  disorders, — that  is  to 
say,  in  the  special  conditions  of  derangement,  which  the 
faculty  have  never  been  able  to  deal  with  successfully  in 
any  other  way ;  but  I  insist  that  I  have  yet  to  meet  with 
any  disease,  organic  or  functional,  hereditary  or  conta- 
gious, which  I  have  not  been  able  to  affect  satisfactorily 
by  the  judicious  application  of  this  fluid. 

I  may  perhaps  better  define  my  own  impressions  on 
'his  subject  by  drawing  an  analogy  which  has  often 
occurred  to  me. 

I  would  liken  the  human  organism  not  to  a  magnet, 
which  has  been  often  done,  but  to  a  great  natural 
battery,  of  which  the  lungs  are  the  magnets,  generating 
the  electricity  for  the  whole  organism  ;  the  nerves, 
the  wires  or  conductors;  the  heart,  the  helix  or  in- 
tensifying factor;  the  head  and  feet  answering  to  the 
positive  and  negative  poles.  Conceive  that  the  lungs 
generate  the  fluid  from  the  oxygen  of  the  atmosphere, 
and  we  have  at  once  a  never-failing  electric  reservoir, 
in  which  the  slightest  perturbation  in  the  current  pro- 
duces, as  is  well  known,  a  corresponding  disturbance 
in  the  electric  condition  of  the  body. 

With  this  view,  and  believing  that  the  character  of 
the  fluid  undergoes  an  important  and  refining  change 
in  its  progress  through  the  human  battery,  the  marvel- 
ous and  otherwise  inexplicable  phenomena  of  animal 
magnetism  seem  to  me  not  only  entirely  worthy  of 
credence,  but  to  be  explicable  under  purely  natural  laws. 


INTRODUCTORY. 


23 


The  sympathy  which  must  exist  between  all  the 
modifications  of  this  fluid  and  nature,  is  in  itself  a 
sufficient  explanation  of  many  of  Von  Reichenbach's 
most  extraordinary  experiments;  while  this  same  sym- 
pathy is  equally  explanatory  of  the  extraordinary  suc- 
cess which  follows  its  application  in  cases  of  disease 
which  might  else  be  well  termed  "incurable." 

Believing  in  the  divinely  ordained  "correlation  of 
forces"  in  all  departments  of  life  and  being,  I  see  no 
reason  for  leaving  out  of  this  grand  category  of  motor 
powers  the  correlative  of  the  life  principle  in  man,  or 
vital  electricity. 


CHAPTER   II. 

THE    HUMAN    ORGANISM   ANATOMICALLY    AND    PHYSIO- 
LOGICALLY   CONSIDERED. 

A  GENERAL  review  of  the  standard  works  put  forth 
with  the  avowed  aim  of  instructing  the  world  in  the 
very  profound  yet  essential  details  of  self-knowledge, 
would  impress  the  unscientific  reader  with  the  belief 
that  the  writers  had  purposely  veiled  the  whole  subject 
behind  a  mask  of  technical  mystery  which  it  was 
neither  possible  nor  desirable  to  penetrate.  A  general 
knowledge  of  the  human  structure,  and  a  certain 
amount  of  information  concerning  the  workings  of 
that  machinery  which  constitutes  life  and  being,  should 
certainly  be  recognized  as  an  essential  feature  in  the 
education  of  every  reasonable  being  ;  but  in  order  to 
arrive  at  even  the  simplest  details  of  the  physiology  of 
common  life,  the  student  seems  compelled  to  wade 
through  such  a  mass  of  technical  nomenclature,  and 
burden  the  memory  with  such  an  array  of  unpronounce- 
able phraseology,  that  the  study  seems  to  be  intrenched 
behind  the  breastwork  of  professional  monopoly,  and 
unprofessional  men  and  women  find  the  jargon  of  the 
dissecting-room,  or  the  incomprehensible  literature  of 
medical  pedantry,  erecting  insuperable  barriers  against 
the  most  superficial  understanding  of  their  own  sub- 
lime and  wonderful  organisms. 
24 


THE  HUMAN  ORGANISM.  25 

Realizing  the  importance  of  a  general  understanding 
of  the  human  structure,  the  subtle  workings  and  occult 
powers  of  which  will  form  the  principal  theme  of  this 
volume,  I  feel  it  necessary  to  preface  the  statement  of 
my  views  concerning  the  best  methods  of  cure,  by  a 
plain  and  comprehensible  definition  of  what  that  or- 
ganism is  upon  which  I  propose  to  operate ;  and,  in 
order  to  gain  the  most  comprehensive  possible  view  of 
our  subject,  we  shall  assume  that  we  are  addressing  un- 
scientific readers,  and  those  who  will  follow  us  through 
such  details  as  will  afford  them  a  wide  range  of  ideas 
without  the  trouble  of  searching  for  them  in  endless 
labyrinths  of  words. 

An  organism  is  a  body  composed  of  separate  parts 
called  organs.  It  is  definite  in  form  and  function,  and 
each  part  or  organ  is  necessary  to  the  full  perfection  of 
the  whole  structure.  Unorganized  matter,  on  the  con- 
trary, is  not  necessarily  made  up  of  separate  parts ;  it 
does  not  consist  of  organs,  nor  are  the  sizes  and  forms 
of  inorganic  masses  limited  or  definite,  except  in  respect 
to  crystalline  formations,  which  are  always  definite. 
Inorganic  substances,  such  as  minerals,  earths,  fluids, 
gases, etc.,  may  be  unlimited  in  size,  and  heterogeneous 
in  the  shape  of  their  several  masses,  but  plants  and 
animals  always  assume  certain  definite  shapes  and  sizes, 
ranging  within  certain  normal  limits.  You  may  break 
up  and  divide  inorganic  bodies  into  any  number  of  sub- 
divisions, and  each  part  shall  retain  its  identity  and 
be  still  the  same  substance ;  but  you  cannot  take  from 
an  organized  body  any  portion,  however  minute,  with- 
out damaging  its  integrity  and  depriving  it  of  an  essen- 
tial part  of  its  structure. 

B  3 


26  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

The  study  of  anatomy  deals  with  and  describes  dead 
matter.  Physiology  treats  of  the  powers,  motions,  and 
functions  of  living  bodies.  Physiology  also  includes 
a  survey  of  all  animated  structures,  from  the  simplest 
forms  of  the  vegetable  to  the  highest  conditions  of 
animal  existence;  but  as  the  human  structure  maybe 
regarded  as  a  microcosm,  including  every  form  of  life 
below  itself,  so  the  study  of  man  is  the  most  instructive 
and  comprehensive  of  all  other  branches. 

The  human  organism  is  made  up  of  matter  and 
force, — matter  in  its  three  states  of  solid,  fluid,  and 
gaseous,  and  force,  including  all  the  various  forms  of 
motion,  the  sum  of  which  we  call  life. 

The  fluids  in  animal  bodies  exist  chiefly  in  the  form 
of  chyme,  chyle,  lymph,  blood,  the  different  juices 
secreted  by  special  glands,  and  water. 

The  solid  portions  are  called  tissues,  and  consist  of 
bone,  muscle,  cartilage,  membrane,  adipose,  cellular 
and  areolar  tissues,  nervous  matter,  hair,  teeth,  and 
nails. 

The  fluids  contain  in  solution  all  the  materials  for 
the  formation  of  solids,  and  as  the  fluids  and  solids 
are  mutually  convertible,  and  constantly  interchanging 
states,  their  constituent  elements  do  not  differ  materially 
from  each  other. 

The  following  elements  are  found  in  more  or  less 
variable  proportions  in  the  human  system :  oxygen, 
hydrogen,  nitrogen,  carbon,  sulphur,  phosphorus,  sili- 
con, chlorine,  fluorine,  and  iron.  There  are  other 
elements  occasionally  found  in  the  body,  such  as  man- 
ganesium,  aluminum,  and  copper,  but  these  are  rather 
incidental  than  constant  in  their  presence. 


THE  HUMAN  ORGANISM.  37 

There  are,  without  reckoning  the  teeth,  about  two 
hundred  and  eight  pieces  of  bone,  arranged  for  the 
most  part  in  pairs,  and  grouped  symmetrically  on  either 
side  of  the  body.  The  bony  structure  may  be  divided 
into  the  cranium  inclosing  the  brain,  the  bones  of 
the  face,  the  trunk,  including  the  sternum,  vertebrae, 
twelve  pairs  of  ribs,  the  collar-bones  and  shoulder- 
blades,  and  the  pelvis,  which  supports  the  abdominal 
regions.  The  lower  extremities  consist  of  the  thigh- 
and  knee-bones,  the  legs,  feet,  and  toes.  The  upper 
extremities  include  the  arms,  hands,  and  fingers. 

The  cranium  incloses  the  brain  and  its  appropriate 
system  of  blood-vessels,  and  also  bounds  the  face, 
organs  of  special  sense,  and  cranial  nerves.  The  tho- 
rax and  vertebrae  inclose  the  heart,  lungs,  blood-ves- 
sels, and  spinal  cord.  The  pelvic  basin  supports  the 
stomach,  liver,  pancreas,  spleen,  bladder,  intestines, 
and  organs  of  generation.  Thus  the  bony  structure 
performs  the  important  office  of  protecting,  as  in  an 
inclosed  lattice-work,  the  vital  organs.  There  are 
certain  pieces  of  bone  in  the  pelvis,  face,  head,  and 
spine  which  are  single  and  uniform ;  all  the  rest  are 
arranged,  like  the  extremities,  in  pairs,  on  either  side 
of  the  body.  Each  pair  of  bones  differs  in  some  re- 
spects from  every  other  pair,  and  all  are  fastened  to- 
gether by  joints,  called  articulations.  The  cranium  is 
not  formed  of  one  compact  mass,  but  consists  of  several 
pieces,  firmly  united  by  the  interlocking  of  notched 
edges,  called  sutures.  The  long  bones  of  the  extremi- 
ties are  hard,  hollow  cylinders,  lined  with  membrane, 
on  which  blood-vessels  are  distributed  for  the  nutri- 
ment of  their  substance.  The  long  bones  are  ex- 


28  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

panded  at  the  extremities,  so  as  to  present  surfaces  for 
articulation  with  other  bones.  Some  of  these  bones 
are  united  by  a  ball  and  socket,  others  by  flat  surfaces, 
but  all  are  firmly  bound  together  by  muscles  and  liga- 
ments, and  the  end  of  each  bone  is  covered  with  a 
layer  of  cartilage,  lubricated  by  means  of  a  sac  of 
serous  membrane,  which  effuses  a  peculiar  fluid,  called 
synovia,  the  use  of  which  is  to  keep  the  joints  moist 
and  supple. 

The  bones  are  composed  in  the  first  place  of  car- 
tilage, which  is  converted  into  osseous  tissue  by  the 
deposition  of  phosphate  and  carbonate  of  lime.  In 
infancy,  cartilaginous  or  animal  matter  constitutes  the 
chief  portion  of  the  skeleton  ;  in  adults,  the  lime  in- 
creases, hardening  the  bones,  and  communicating 
strength  to  the  frame;  in  old  age,  however,  the  animal 
matter  dissipates  so  rapidly  that  the  bones  become 
exceedingly  brittle,  and  hence  it  is  that  fractures  to 
persons  in  advanced  life  are  so  dangerous  and  difficult 
to  repair. 

Without  entering  into  the  minutise  of  detail  which 
belongs  to  the  anatomy  of  the  bones,  it  is  enough  to 
call  attention  to  the  beautiful  mechanism  of  which  the 
frame-work  is  composed,  the  position  it  occupies  in 
the  human  economy,  and  to  note  how  admirably  the 
finest  principles  of  mechanics  are  carried  out  in  the 
articulation  of  the  several  joints,  and  the  freedom  with 
which  every  part  of  the  structure  moves. 

The  respiratory  apparatus  commences  with  the  mouth, 
which  conducts  the  inhaled  air  through  the  trachea 
(windpipe)  into  the  lungs.  The  trachea  is  a  strong, 
highly  elastic  tube,  composed  of  muscular,  fibrous,  and 


THE  HUMAN  ORGANISM. 


29 


mucous  membrane,  all  of  which  line  and  connect  about 
eighteen  cartilaginous  rings,  the  contractile  action  of 
which  is  admirably  adapted  to  produce  the  various 
inflexions  of  the  voice  essential  in  speaking  or  singing. 

We  may  here  pause  to  remark  that  all  portions  of 
the  viscera  or  internal  organs  that  are  exposed  to  the 
air  are  lined  with  mucous  membrane,  and  all  the  in- 
ternal organs  themselves  are  inclosed  in  sacs  of 
serous  membrane,  the  office  of  which  is  to  secrete  a 
watery  fluid,  called  serum.  It  is  by  the  effusion  of  serum 
that  the  various  organs  are  lubricated,  and  any  undue 
irritation  from  their  friction  one  upon  the  other  is 
avoided. 

The  trachea  terminates,  as  it  enters  the  thorax,  in 
two  arches,  called  bronchi,  and  these,  dividing  off  into 
the  right  and  the  left  lung,  subdivide  and  ramify  into 
an  immense  system  of  tubing,  every  fibre  of  which  ei.ds 
in  a  minute  air-cell.  The  tissue  of  the  lungs  is  com- 
posed of  fine  areolar  membrane,  air-cells,  bronchial 
tubing,  arteries,  veins,  and  capillaries.  The  air-cells 
are  composed  of  microscopic  sacs  of  membrane.  The 
bronchial  tubes,  veins,  arteries,  and  capillaries  of  the 
lungs  are  all  attenuated  to  the  utmost  degree  of  fine- 
ness, and  so  profusely  distributed  that  the  entire  mass 
of  the  lungs  may  be  said  to  consist  of  an  immense 
surface  of  membrane,  with  blood-vessels  on  one  side 
and  air-cells  on  the  other.  The  blood  and  air  do  not 
come  into  contact,  although  the  fine  and  permeable 
character  of  the  membrane  permits  the  nutritive  quality 
of  the  blood  to  pass  into  and  nourish  the  air-cells,  and 
the  vitalizing  properties  of  the  inhaled  air  to  act  upon 
and  change  materially  the  character  of  the  blood.  It 


30  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

has  been  estimated  that  there  are  at  least  six  hundred 
millions  of  air-cells  in  the  lungs,  each  one  of  which  is 
supplied  by  an  artery  communicating  with  a  vein,  and 
inflated  by  the  air  inhaled  in  the  act  of  inspiration. 
The  surface  presented  by  the  membrane  of  the  lungs 
would,  it  is  supposed,  cover  more  than  thirty  times  that 
of  the  whole  body,  and  the  capacity  for  inflating  this 
light,  spongy  tissue  is  provided  for,  first,  by  the  elastic 
intercostal  muscles  which  connect  the  ribs  together 
and  expand  with  every  respiration,  and  next  by  the 
action  of  the  large  muscular  membrane  called  the  dia- 
phragm, which  separates  the  thorax  from  the  abdomen, 
and  alternately  curves  upwards  and  downwards  with 
the  actions  of  inspiration  and  exhalation  performed  by 
the  lungs.  The  chief  function  of  the  respiratory  organs 
is  that  of  aerating  the  blood  which  is  carried  into  the 
lung-tissues  by  the  pulmonary  artery  from  the  right 
ventricle  of  the  heart.  At  this  point  the  blood  is 
finally  collected  by  the  veins  from  all  portions  of  the 
system,  and,  being  charged  with  the  impurities  and 
effete  matters  gathered  up  in  traversing  the  body,  pre- 
sents the  appearance  of  a  dark  purple,  almost  black, 
fluid  when  poured  through  the  right  vena  cava  or  large 
vein  into  the  heart. 

By  the  exposure  of  the  venous  blood  to  the  oxygen 
of  the  atmosphere  inhaled  through  the  lungs,  its  im- 
purities are  in  part  disengaged  and  given  off  in  the  form 
of  carbonic  acid  gas ;  the  whole  mass  of  blood,  or 
nearly  the  whole,  becomes  changed  in  tone  and  color ; 
the  dark  purple  hue  is  converted  into  a  bright  scarlet, 
and  by  the  time  the  pulmonary  circulation  is  com- 
pleted, the  blood  is  arterialized  and  poured  back  into 


THE  HUMAN  ORGANISM,  31 

the  heart  through  the  left  auricle,  in  a  condition  suffi- 
ciently renovated  to  form  pabulum  for  the  support  and 
nourishment  of  the  entire  system. 

We  must  now  trace  in  more  detail  the  circulatory 
process,  and  note  the  intimate  connection  and  inter- 
dependence which  it  maintains  with  the  respiratory 
system.  The  heart  is  the  centre  of  the  circulatory  ap- 
paratus, and  it  is  situated  in  the  thorax,  between  the 
right  and  left  lungs.  The  point  or  apex  slants  forwards 
towards  the  left  lung,  on  which  it  slightly  impinges, 
the  base  or  broad  part  inclining  backwards  and  upwards 
towards  the  right  shoulder.  Although  the  formation 
of  muscular  fibre  is  uniform  in  all  parts  of  the  system, 
the  closely-knit  and  strongly-packed  fibres  of  the  heart 
constitute  it  the  most  powerful  muscle  of  the  whole 
body.  It  is  protected  from  friction  against  other 
organs  by  a  smooth  serous  membrane  or  sac  containing 
cardiacal  fluid,  and  this  sac  is  spread  over  the  whole 
surface  of  the  heart,  and  so  doubled  on  itself  as  to  form 
a  closed  bag,  called  the  pericardium,  or  heart-case. 

The  heart  itself  is  divided  internally  in  the  direction 
of  its  length  into  two  halves,  which,  though  so  closely 
connected  as  to  form  one,  constitute  it  in  reality  a 
double  organ.  Each  part  also  being  called  upon  to 
perform  different  functions  from  the  other,  the  walls 
of  each  side  differ  in  thickness  in  proportion  to  their 
uses.  Thus,  the  right  side  (the  office  of  which  is  simply 
to  receive  the  blood  and  propel  it  with  moderate  force 
into  the  lungs)  exhibits  muscular  walls  less  thick,  and 
valves  less  elaborately  fashioned,  than  the  left,  through 
which  the  blood  is  received  from  the  lungs  and  pro- 
pelled by  the  aortal  artery  through  the  whole  body. 


32  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

There  are  four  principal  cavities  in  the  heart,  the 
first  two  of  which  are  termed  auricles,  situated  on  each 
side,  right  and  left,  though  not  exactly  uniform,  and 
two  other  cavities  termed  ventricles,  both  right  and 
left  of  the  heart,  though  less  uniform  even  than  the 
auricles.  The  auricles  perform  the  part  of  receivers, 
the  ventricles  that  of  propellers. 

Between  each  cavity  there  is  a  beautifully  constructed 
valve,  the  duty  of  which  is  to  permit  the  flow  of  blood 
in  one  direction,  but  to  prevent  its  return  again  through 
the  same  orifice. 

The  auricle  on  the  right  side  is  furnished  with  a  three- 
pointed  valve,  called  tricuspid,  and  that  on  the  left 
with  a  two-pointed  valve,  termed  bicuspid.  Both  these 
membranes  are  attached  to  the  walls  of  the  heart  by 
little  muscular  cords,  and,  though  they  appear  to  be 
merely  finely  attenuated  threads,  they  are  fashioned,  like 
the  valves,  with  an  extraordinary  amount  of  strength 
and  resisting  power. 

Besides  the  auricular  valves,  there  are  two  sets  com- 
municating between  the  ventricles  and  the  arteries. 
These  are  termed  semilunar  valves,  and  their  office  is  to 
afford  passage  from  the  ventricles  to  the  arteries :  the 
right  ventricle  forcing  the  blood  into  the  pulmonary 
artery,  and  from  thence  through  the  lungs,  and  the 
left  by  the  great  aorta  throughout  the  whole  body. 

In  order  to  gain  a  correct  idea  of  the  course  in  which 
the  tidal  currents  of  the  blood  are  projected,  it  is 
necessary  to  have  a  starting-point ;  and  this  we  shall 
find  by  commencing  to  trace  the  circuit  from  the  left 
ventricle.  Remember  always  that  the  blood  does  not 
flow  in  regular  channels  through  the  heart,  but  that  it 


THE  HUMAN  ORGANISM. 


33 


is  propelled  by  a  strong  impulse  through  each  valve  into 
its  separate  cavity.  In  the  left  ventricle  we  find  the 
blood  in  that  bright  scarlet  condition  peculiar  to  the 
arterial  flow.  If  we  should  pierce  a  vein  in  any  part  of 
the  living  structure,  we  shall  observe  a  moderate  but  by 
no  means  impulsive  flow  of  the  contained  fluid  ;  but  if 
we  should  sever  an  artery,  a  violent  upward  rush  of  the 
blood  will  testify  to  the  momentum  with  which  the  cur- 
rent has  been  impelled.  This  impulse  is  originated  by 
the  muscular  contraction  peculiar  to  the  left  ventricular 
cavity,  which  forces  the  blood  with  immense  power 
through  the  large  arterial  tube  crowning  the  broad  base 
of  the  heart,  called  the  aorta.  Directly  after  receiving 
the  first  flow  of  the  arterial  fluid,  the  aorta  divides  like 
an  arch  to  the  right  and  left,  and  again  subdivides  into 
four  main  trunks, — two  branches  of  which  extend  up- 
wards, when  they  are  called  the  carotid  arteries,  and 
supply  the  different  portions  of  the  throat  and  head, 
the  other  two  trunks  tend  downwards,  and  branch  off 
on  either  side  of  the  body  into  a  complex  system  of 
tubing,  ending  in  an  inextricable  net-work  of  fine  hair- 
like  passages  called  capillaries.  The  ramifications  of 
this  extensive  system  of  vessels  are  supposed  to  extend  in 
length  to  several  miles,  and  it  is  thus  that  arterial  blood 
is  furnished  to  the  body,  supplying  the  entire  system 
with  nutrition  and  the  life-giving  oxygen  inhaled 
through  the  lungs. 

In  the  capillaries,  the  blood  parts  with  its  nutritive 
qualities,  and  from  thence  it  is  taken  up  by  the  veins, 
the  extent  and  ramifications  of  which  correspond  in 
all  respects  with  the  arteries,  only  that  its  dark  purple, 
almost  black  hue,  denotes  the  absence  of  the  vitalizing 
B* 


34  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

elements  found  in  the  arteries :  but  it  must  be  re- 
membered that  the  chief  office  of  the  veins  is  to  carry 
the  blood  back  again  to  the  great  central  reservoir  of 
circulatory  power  in  the  heart.  This  they  effect  by 
being  distributed  side  by  side  with  the  arteries, — in- 
tersecting them  in  thousands  of  yards  of  fine  hair-like 
tubing,  until  they  expand  into  larger  proportions,  and 
finally  concentrate  into  four  main  trunks  about  the 
heart,  corresponding  to  the  position  of  the  arteries. 
The  large  trunks  which  carry  back  the  venous  blood 
from  the  heart  and  throat  are  called  the  jugular  veins, 
and  the  branches  which  return  the  blood  from  the  trunk 
and  extremities  are  termed  venae  cavse.  Through 
these  the  blood  is  emptied  into  the  right  auricle,  and 
from  thence  through  the  tricuspid  valve  into  the  right 
ventricle.  Here  what  is  called  the  great  systemic  cir- 
culation ends,  and  here  the  pulmonary  or  lesser  circu- 
lation commences;  for  it  must  be  remembered  that  we 
started  on  our  analysis  by  tracing  the  blood  from  the 
left  ventricle,  but  before  it  can  reach  this  point  there 
must  intervene  that  complete  pulmonary  circuit  through 
the  lungs  to  which  we  have  previously  called  attention. 
The  object  of  this  lesser  system  of  circulation  is,  as 
before  stated,  to  expose  the  blood  to  the  oxygen  in- 
haled by  the  act  of  respiration,  and  thus  to  effect  that 
radical  change  that  converts  the  dark  venous  flow 
into  the  healthful  and  vitalizing  condition  of  arterial 
blood. 

The  wonders  of  the  circulatory  system,  and  the 
effects  of  health  or  disease  which  result  from  a 
thorough  understanding  of  its  influence,  cannot  of 
course  be  fully  appreciated  from  the  condensed  descrip- 


THE  HUMAN  ORGANISM. 


35 


tion  which  I  have  herewith  presented.  It  is  enough  to 
say,  however,  that  if,  as  the  best- in  formed  physiologists 
allow,  a  single  grain  of  poison  infused  into  any  given 
portion  of  the  organism  will  traverse  the  whole  circu- 
latory extent  of  tubing  in  something  less  than  three 
minutes  of  time,  what  an  array  of  poisonous  elements 
are  we  not  perpetually  introducing  into  our  systems,  in 
the  shape  of  vitiated  airs,  fermented  liquors,  and  other 
injurious  articles  of  food,  in  the  ignorant  and  unphysio- 
logical  modes  in  which  nine-tenths  of  the  community 
pass  their  lives  ! 

I  shall  now  add  a  brief  sketch  of  the  methods  by 
which  food  is  prepared  for  the  nourishment  of  the 
system  through  the  digestive  apparatus. 

The  organs  of  digestion  commence  with  the  teeth, 
and  include  the  mouth,  salivary  glands,  oesophagus,  or 
food-pipe,  the  stomach,  duodenum,  or  entrance  to  the 
small  intestine,  the  pancreas,  liver,  gall-bladder,  and 
lacteals. 

The  three  kinds  of  teeth  found  in  the  human  jaw 
are  called  incisors,  canine,  and  molars.  The  first  of 
these  are  designed  simply  to  divide  the  food,  the 
second  to  tear  it,  and  the  third  to  bruise  or  grind  it. 
There  are  two  sets  of  teeth,  namely,  the  milk-teeth, 
which  supply  the  gums  of  infancy  and  childhood,  and 
the  permanent  teeth,  which  take  the  place  of  the  others, 
from  about  the  age  of  six  to  eight  years. 

The  extreme  hardness,  diverse  fashion,  and  separate 
offices  performed  by  the  three  varieties  of  teeth  fast- 
ened into  the  human  jaw,  taken  in  connection  with 
similarly  diverse  functions  performed  by  other  portions 
of  the  digestive  apparatus,  speak  as  plainly  as  a  divine 


36  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

revelation  that  the  food  designed  to  sustain  man  should 
be  of  a  mixed  character,  and  include  animal,  vegetable, 
and  cereal  productions. 

Besides  the  act  of  mastication,  another  important 
process  takes  place  in  the  mouth,  and  this  consists  of 
insalivation,  or  the  moistening  and  preparing  the  food 
for  swallowing  by  the  mixture  of  saliva.  This  fluid  is 
secreted  from  three  different  sets  of  glands :  the  one 
pair  situated  just  below  each  ear,  and  called  the  parotid 
glands;  the  other  pair  placed  beneath  the  tongue,  called 
sublingual;  and  the  third, ^r  submaxillary,  placed  near 
the  angles  of  the  lower  jaw. 

The  fluids  secreted  from  these  three  sets  of  glands 
differ  in  character,  but  in  combination  form  saliva.  A 
certain  portion  of  saliva  is  always  found  in  the  mouth, 
except  its  flow  is  restrained  by  disease,  but,  like  the 
gastric  juice  of  the  stomach,  the  moment  food  is  pre- 
sented to  the  mouth  the  flow  is  greatly  increased,  and 
sometimes  occurs  even  when  the  thought  of  food  ex- 
cites the  nerves  which  supply  the  salivary  glands ;  this 
result  is  known  in  what  is  vulgarly  called  "setting  the 
mouth  watering"  at  the  sight  or  mention  of  desirable 
food.  After  the  food  has  been  duly  masticated  and 
moistened  by  the  saliva,  it  is  collected  by  the  muscles 
of  the  cheeks  and  the  action  of  the  tongue  and  con- 
veyed against  the  back  part  or  vail  of  the  palate,  which 
is  so  hung  as  to  close  the  cavity  of  the  mouth  in  rest, 
yet  in  swallowing  to  open  it  freely  and  permit  the  pas- 
sage of  the  food  into  the  pharynx. 

The  oesophagus  is  an  elastic  muscular  tube  resembling 
the  trachea  in  construction,  inclosed  on  its  external 
surface  by  a  serous  membrane;  then  follows  a  layer  of 


THE  HUMAN  ORGANISM. 


37 


thick  elastic  muscular  membrane,  the  whole  being  lined 
with  mucous  membrane. 

By  the  muscular  contractions  of  the  oesophagus,  the 
food  is  next  forced  through  an  orifice  near  the  heart, 
surrounded  with  a  strong  band,  or  sphincter,  into  the 
main  digestive  cavity,  or  stomach. 

The  human  stomach  is  an  oblong  membraneous  bag, 
situated  just  below  the  diaphragm,  and  placed  somewhat 
obliquely  across  the  abdomen.  It  has  two  orifices: 
the  one  just  alluded  to,  namely,  the  cardiac  orifice, 
by  which  the  food  is  received,  and  the  other  at  its 
smaller  extremity,  called  the  pyloric  orifice,  the  office 
of  which  is  to  convey  the  semi-digested  food  from  the 
stomach  into  the  intestines.  Both  these  orifices  are 
surrounded  with  muscular  bands,  which  close  upon  the 
interior  sac,  and  only  open  or  expand  when  it  is  essen- 
tial to  receive  or  expel  the  food  from  the  cavity  of  the 
stomach. 

The  stomach  has  three  coats,  consisting  of  an  external 
covering,  or  serous  membrane;  a  muscular  or  middle 
coating,  formed  of  highly  elastic  muscular  fibre,  the 
property  of  which  is  to  contract  and  expand,  and  thus 
promote  the  rolling  motion  occurring  whilst  the  food 
is  being  digested  in  the  stomach;  and  an  inner  lining, 
called,  as  before  stated,  the  mucous  membrane,  the 
office  of  which  is  not  only  to  cover  the  interior  sur- 
face with  a  smooth  slimy  fluid,  but  also  to  contain  the 
countless  numbers  of  little  follicles  or  glands  through 
which  the  gastric  juices  are  poured  out  and  secreted; 
in  fact,  the  entire  of  the  mucous  membrane  or  inner 
lining  of  the  stomach  is  pierced  with  little  glands  and 
processes  so  thickly  set,  that  millions  of  them  may  be 
4 


38  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

counted  under  the  microscope.  When  this  organ  con- 
tains no  food,  these  glands  are  at  rest,  but  directly 
food  is  introduced  into  the  cardiac  orifice,  the  follicles 
pour  out  an  acrid  fluid  secreted  within  them,  which, 
running  down  into  the  contents  of  the  stomach,  so  dis- 
solves and  changes  them  that  all  matters  which  are  sus- 
ceptible of  digestion  become  converted  into  a  pulpy 
mass,  called  chyme. 

Nothing  but  solid  matter,  and  that  of  an  organic 
nature,  is  acted  upon  by  the  gastric  fluid.  Liquids  are 
at  once  got  rid  of,  and,  when  introduced  into  the 
stomach  in  large  quantities,  materially  interfere  with  the 
process  of  digestion.  Solid  tissues,  such  as  cooked 
meat,  fish,  and  bread,  are  most  readily  dissolved  by  the 
gastric  juices.  Saccharine  and  starchy  matters  are 
ejected  in  an  unchanged  state  into  the  small  intes- 
tines. Gastric  fluid,  though  poured  in  large  quantities 
into  the  stomach  during  the  process  of  digestion,  does 
not  remain  there,  nor  is  it  all  absorbed  by  the  food : 
some  portions  of  it  are  reabsorbed  into  the  capillaries 
which  surround  and  overlay  the  glands,  and  thus  pass 
into  the  general  circulation  and  perform  the  function 
of  nourishing  or  vitiating  the  tissues  of  the  body;  but 
the  greater  portion  of  the  solids,  when  they  are  sus- 
ceptible of  being  dissolved  by  the  gastric  juices,  are 
carried  off  through  the  pyloric  orifice  into  the  duo- 
denum, or  first  part  of  the  alimentary  canal. 

The  usual  length  of  the  small  intestine  in  man  is 
about  twenty-five  feet.  The  opening  then  widens  into 
a  much  larger  passage,  called  the  colon,  or  great  intes- 
tine, the  length  of  which,  for  about  five  feet,  is  trav- 
ersed by  the  waste  matter,  which  is  finally  ejected  from 


THE  HUMAN  ORGANISM.  39 

the  system.  The  intestines,  like  the  stomach,  have 
three  coats  or  membranes,  consisting  of  the  peritoneal, 
or  serous,  the  muscular,  and  the  mucous. 

The  surface  of  the  mucous  lining  of  the  small  intes- 
tine is  even  more  numerously  studded  with  small 
glands,  called  villi,  than  the  stomach.  Through  these 
villi  the  nutritive  portions  of  the  food  are  absorbed 
by  a  set  of  vessels  called  lacteals,  but  not  until  the 
chyme,  or  half-digested  food,  has  been  further  pre- 
pared by  a  juice,  secreted  by  a  long  gland  situated  on 
the  right  side  of  the  stomach,  called  the  pancreas. 
This  gland  pours  out  a  fluid  called  the  pancreatic  juice, 
and  its  peculiar  property  seems  to  be  to  mix  with  and 
prepare  the  fatty  matters  taken  into  the  system  for 
general  distribution. 

The  final  act  of  the  digestive  process  is  performed 
by  the  liver.  This  is  a  large  gland,  divided  into  sev- 
eral lobes,  pierced  thickly  with  blood-vessels,  and 
having  a  circulation  of  its  own,  called  the  portal  cir- 
culation. 

One  of  the  chief  offices  of  the  liver  is  to  secrete  or 
manufacture  a  bitter,  acrid  fluid,  called  bile.  This  is 
poured  out  into  a  small  duct  adhering  to  the  lower 
side  of  the  liver,  called  the  gall-bladder.  There  is  a 
duct  which  leads  direct  from  the  liver  into  the  gall- 
bladder, and  from  this  again  into  the  small  intestine, 
at  or  about  the  same  point  as  the  pancreatic  duct, 
and  this  is  called  the  bile-duct.  Through  this  passage 
the  biliary  fluid  is  poured  in  a  given  quantity  into  the 
small  intestine,  changing  so  materially  the  character 
of  the  chyme,  that  after  it  has  passed  beyond  the  pan- 
creatic and  bile  ducts  it  is  converted  into  a  white, 


40  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

milk-like  fluid  ;  in  fact,  it  now  assumes  that  rudimental 
condition  of  which  blood  is  formed,  and,  having  un- 
dergone its  last  change  in  the  act  of  digestion,  it  is 
called  chyle,  and  is  taken  up  by  absorption  through 
the  mucous  membrane  of  the  small  intestine  into  a 
set  of  vessels  termed  lacteals,  and  from  thence  it  is 
poured  into  the  general  circulation  through  the  blood- 
vessels. 

Whatever  residue  contains  matter  which  is  not  fit  for 
nutriment  is  forced  on  into  the  colon,  and  as  the  lining 
membrane  in  this  intestine  is  no  longer  supplied  with 
nutritive  glands,  the  contained  matter  becomes  hard 
and  comparatively  dry,  and  is  expelled  in  regular 
course  from  the  system  by  the  excrementary  passage. 

It  now  only  remains  for  us  to  add  a  few  words  of  de- 
scription concerning  the  lacteals,  through  which  the 
thoroughly-digested  food  is  ultimately  converted  into 
chyle  and  poured  into  the  general  circulation. 

The  lacteals  form  part  of  an  extensive  fluid  system, 
called  lymphatics,  of  which  that  portion  termed  lac- 
teals originates  in  the  mucous  membrane  of  the  ali- 
mentary canal.  Here  they  are  imbedded  in  the  form 
of  villi,  or  minute  tubules,  imperceptible  to  the  naked 
eye;  and  the  chyle,  or  digested  food,  in  its  liquid, 
milky  state,  is  absorbed  into  these  villi,  from  whence  it 
passes  into  larger  passages,  uniting  into  great  branches, 
and  finally  combining  into  one  trunk,  called  the  tho- 
racic duct. 

Into  this  main  passage  all  the  lymphatics  and  lacteals 
are  emptied.  Its  situation  is  in  front  of  the  second 
lower  joint  of  the  spine,  or  lumbar  vertebrae,  and  after 
continuing  up  the  backbone  until  it  reaches  a  valvular 


THE  HUMAN  ORGANISM.  41 

opening,  just  beneath  the  clavicle,  or  collar-bone,  it 
discharges  its  contents  into  the  left  subclavian  vein, 
becomes  commingled  with  the  returning  currents  of 
venous  blood,  and  is  carried  into  the  right  cavity  of 
the  heart,  to  be  lost  in  the  general  circulation. 


CHAPTER    IIL 

THE   HUMAN   ORGANISM CONTINUED. 

PART  II. — THE  BRAIN  AND  NERVOUS  SYSTEM. 

IN  describing  the  wonders  of  creative  wisdom, 
whether  in  astronomy  or  physics,  figures  convey  but 
little  significance  to  the  mind,  and  the  sums  by  which 
we  seek  to  define  creative  ?focesses  serve  rather  to  con- 
fuse than  to  enlighten  the  Imagination. 

What  idea  could  we  form  of  an  atom  measuring 
one  four-thousandth  part  of  an  inch  in  diameter? 
yet  such  is  the  only  approximate  conception  we  can 
give  of  the  size  in  which  blood-discs  appear  beneath 
the  glass  of  the  anatomist ! 

Hundreds  of  millions  of  air-sacs  in  the  lungs,  miles 
of  tubing  in  the  blood-vessels  and  capillaries,  and  mil- 
lions of  cells  occupied  in  forming  the  brain,  are  so 
many  words,  which,  however  true,  bring  no  sense  of 
realization  to  the  mind  seeking  to  learn  the  nature  of 
the  grand  machinery  of  life.  It  is  on  account  of  the 
poverty  of  words  to  express  ideas  that  I  withhold  those 
minutiae  of  description  which  apply  to  the  original 
formation  of  tissues,  and  simply  state  that  all  the  dif- 
ferent portions  of  the  body,  whether  bone,  muscle, 
membrane,  cartilage,  or  nervous  matter,  are  constructed 
42 


THE  HUMAN  ORGANISM. 


43 


from  minute  cells,  the  primary  form  of  which  is  a  sac 
of  membrane  of  infinitesimal  attenuation  and  nuclei  of 
microscopic  size. 

Millions  of  these,  flattened,  elongated,  rounded,  or 
pressed  into  spheroids,  go  to  make  up  a  single  fibre  of 
muscular  or  nervous  matter.  Bundles  of  fibres,  count- 
less in  multitude,  are  bound  together  to  form  a  mass  of 
tissue;  whilst  the  human  body  includes  the  totality 
of  all  tissues,  organs,  systems,  and  apparatuses.  Passing 
forward,  then,  to  the  grand  results  of  formation,  we 
are  now  about  to  enter  upon  that  peculiar  system  of 
organic  life  which  connects  the  realms  of  matter  and 
force,  and  which  begins  to  shadow  forth  the  sphere  of 
causation  underlying  the  variety  of  motions  which  have 
been  described  in  the  preceding  chapter. 

When  we  turn  from  the  dead  body,  which  is  in 
reality  inorganic  matter,  and  contemplate  the  immense 
variety  of  powers  and  functions  manifest  in  the  living 
structure  itself, — the  noblest  example  in  creation  of  or- 
ganic matter, — it  becomes  impossible  to  narrow  down 
our  investigations  to  the  inert  masses  examined  by 
anatomy,  and  we  must  push  forward  on  the  road  of 
discovery  opened  up  to  us  by  physiology. 

To  determine  the  source  of  those  marvelous  activi- 
ties which  proceed  with  such  regular  order  in  life,  and 
ascertain  what  element  it  is,  the  absence  of  which  stills 
those  activities  into  death  and  reduces  their  instru- 
ment of  expression  to  inert  matter,  has  been  the  prob- 
lem of  ages,  and  one  which  even  now  would  not  have 
been  susceptible  of  solution  if  a  partial  disclosure  of 
the  mystery  had  not  been  made  by  the  researches  of 
physiologists,  and  the  light  which  modern  science  has 


44  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

thrown  upon  the  powers  and  functions  of  the  nervous 
system,  under  the  stimulus  of  electricity. 

For  some  time  past  the  theory  has  been  advanced, 
that  the  hidden  and  mysterious  forces  of  life  were  gen- 
erated by  the  brain  and  nervous  system  in  what  is 
termed  "nerve  aura,"  and  that  this  element  would 
account  for  all  the  phenomena  vaguely  attributed  to  a 
"  vital  principle . " 

The  simple  fact  that  the  nerves,  like  the  rest  of  the 
organs,  perish  at  death,  and  that  their  tissues  retain 
none  of  the  properties  assumed  to  belong  to  them  ex- 
cept they  are  acted  upon  from  without,  is  a  sufficient 
refutation  of  the  fallacy  that  the  "  life  principle"  and 
"nerve  aura"  are  one  and  the  same  element;  but 
when  we  find  a  force  which  can  produce  upon  the 
organism  the  effects  which  we  attribute  to  the  vital 
principle,  when  we  find  that  force  capable  of  moving 
the  muscles,  stimulating  the  circulation,  promoting 
digestion  and  respiration,  and  acting  even  upon  the 
nervous  system  itself,  are  we  not  then  justified  in 
assuming  that  such  a  force  is  one  and  the  same  with 
the  life  principle?  We  have  a  sufficient  array  of  phe- 
nomena, through  whatever  media  we  observe  the  action 
of  electricity,  to  determine  that  it  is  the  true  motor  of 
vital  force,  and  that  the  physiologist  who  carefully 
observes  its  working  as  a  therapeutic  agent,  and  the 
anatomist  who  watches  its  effects  even  upon  dead  mat- 
ter, have  just  as  much  reason  to  cry,  "Eureka!  the 
problem  of  life  is  solved,"  as  Franklin  had  when  he 
ascertained  the  character  of  the  electric  fluid  he  drew 
from  the  thunder-cloud. 

Not   to   anticipate   in  this  place   the  arguments  we 


THE  HUMAN  ORGANISM. 


45 


design  to  present  in  support  of  this  proposition,  we 
shall  now  review  in  brief  the  structure  of  the  brain  and 
nervous  system,  and  see  how  far  we  are  justified  in 
assuming  that  in  their  operation  we  find  the  instru- 
mentalities through  which  the  life-forces  act. 

It  has  long  been  believed  that  consciousness,  intelli- 
gence, and  will,  find  in  the  nervous  matter  of  the  brain 
the  seat  of  those  properties  by  which  mind  acts  upon 
matter.  As  a  full  analysis  of  all  that  might  be  advanced 
in  reference  to  the  subtle  links  which  connect  mind  and 
matter  would  involve  psychological  as  well  as  physio- 
logical definitions,  we  must  confine  our  attention  to  the 
physical  relations  of  our  subject,  and  only  touch  upon 
its  psychological  connections  so  far  as  they  are  essen- 
tial to  elucidate  the  influences  which  mind  exercises 
upon  matter  in  the  different  conditions  of  disease 
and  health. 

In  the  nervous  apparatus  of  man  we  find  two  well- 
marked  and  distinct  systems,  the  one  called  the  cerebro- 
spinal,  and  the  other  the  sympathetic,  or  ganglionic 
system.  The  cerebro-spinal  consists  of  the  brain,  the 
spinal  cord,  and  the  nerves,  which  extend  from  both 
these  great  centres  to  the  ultimate  extremities  of  the 
body. 

The  brain  is  composed  of  a  soft,  pulpy  tissue,  and  is 
inclosed  in  the  cavity  formed  by  the  cranium. 

The  mass  of  the  brain  is  divided,  first,  into  two  prin- 
cipal portions,  called  the  cerebrum,  or  front  brain,  and 
the  cerebellum,  or  back  brain. 

The  cerebrum  occupies  all  the  anterior  and  upper 
part  of  the  cranial  cavity;  it  also  extends  to  the  poste- 
rior region  of  the  head,  covering  the  upper  portion  of 


46  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

the  cerebellum,  and  resting  on  the  membranes  which 
divide  the  two.  It  is  seven-eighths  larger  than  the  cere- 
bellum, and  is  supposed  to  be  the  principal  seat  of  the 
intellectual  faculties. 

The  mass  of  the  cerebrum  is  divided  into  two  hemi- 
spheres or  lateral  halves,  and  these  again  have  three 
prominences  on  either  side,  called  lobes.  The  lobes  are 
the  special  masses  which  fill  the  concave  portions  of  the 
skull  at  the  forehead,  temples,  and  back  of  the  head. 

The  hemispheres  are  divided  by  a  double  fold  of 
membrane,  which  dips  down  between  them,  and  cuts 
the  cerebrum  into  two  distinct  halves.  There  are  trans- 
verse bands  of  nervous  matter  connecting  these  hemi- 
spheres, called  commissures,  and  the  last  and  largest  of 
these  is  situated  at  the  base  of  the  cerebrum,  forming  a 
strong  band  of  nerve-fibres,  called  the  corpus  callosum. 

Towards  the  base  of  the  cerebrum  it  becomes  in- 
flected inwards,  then  expands,  and  forms  an  intricate 
cavity,  with  several  chambers,  called  ventricles. 

The  surface  of  the  cerebrum  is  folded  up  into  an 
immense  number  of  convolutions,  which  pierce  deeply 
into  the  substance,  and  form  a  complete  mass  of  fissures 
and  eminences.  Brain-matter,  although  uniform  in 
consistence,  presents  two  striking  varieties  in  color,  and 
a  specialty  in  the  arrangement  of  its  surfaces.  The  ex- 
ternal surface  is  composed  of  a  thick  layer  of  nervous 
matter  of  a  gray  color,  called,  from  its  ash-like  hue, 
cineritious,  and  this  dips  down  into  all  the  convolu- 
tions, piercing  the  internal  mass  in  a  well-defined, 
though  exceedingly  irregular,  layer. 

This  interior  mass  is  of  a  milky-white  substance, 
semi-fluid  in  consistence,  and  called  medullary.  Not- 


THE  HUMAN  ORGANISM. 


47 


withstanding  the  irregularity  of  surface  occasioned  by 
the  convoluted  nature  of  the  outer  layer,  the  gray  and 
white  matter  do  not  commingle,  but  preserve  their  dis- 
tinct positions  throughout  the  whole  mass.  The  brain 
is  more  abundantly  supplied  with  blood  than  any  other 
organ  of  the  body;  but  if  the  extent  of  brain-surface 
were  limited  by  the  size  of  the  mass,  only  one-tenth  ot 
the  quantity  of  blood  would  be  sent  to  the  brain  that  it 
now  receives,  and  this  additional  provision  for  its  nutri- 
tion is  derived  from  the  blood-vessels  spread  out  on 
the  membranes,  and  piercing  all  the  convolutions  into 
which  the  mass  is  folded. 

There  are  three  membranes  inclosing  the  brain.  The 
external  is  a  strong,  firm  tissue  lining  the  cranial  cavity 
and  adhering  closely  to  the  bones ;  it  also  dips  down 
between  the  two  hemispheres,  and,  being  reflected  back 
over  either  side,  forms  the  double  fold  which  divides 
them.  This  membrane  is  called  the  dura  mater,  or 
"hard  mother,"  from  the  belief  of  old  anatomists  that 
it  originated  all  the  strong  membranes  of  the  body. 
The  second  is  called  the  arachnoid,  or  "spider-web," 
from  its  exceeding  attenuation.  This  membrane  dips 
into  all  the  convolutions,  and  upon  its  surface  is  spread 
out  the  extensive  vascular  system  which  supplies  the 
brain  with  blood.  The  third  and  inner  lining  is  an 
exceedingly  fine  and  delicate  investiture  which  incloses 
all  the  brain-matter,  and  is  termed  the  pia  mater,  or 
"  soft  mother,"  in  contradistinction  to  the  dura  mater. 
Myriads  of  minute  vessels  are  spread  out  between  these 
membranes,  besides  which  there  is  a  serous  fluid  secreted 
by  the  arachnoid,  serving  the  same  lubricating  purpose 
as  that  effected  by  the  serous  sacs  which  inclose  the 


48  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

heart,  lungs,  and  internal  organs.  All  these  mem- 
branes, in  the  same  order  as  they  exist  in  the  cranium, 
form  the  tubular  sheath  which  invests  the  spinal  cord. 
The  cerebellum,  or  back  brain,  is  situated  at  the  base 
of  the  cerebrum,  and  is  in  part  covered  in  by  it.  In 
structure,  as  in  functions,  it  differs  from  the  cerebrum, 
its  surface  being  furrowed  with  lines  or  ridges  instead 
of  convolutions.  Like  the  cerebrum,  it  is  divided  into 
two'hemispheres,  separated  by  folds  of  membrane,  and 
united  by  commissures,  or  transverse  bands  of  nervous 
matter.  The  gray  and  the  white  matter  are  arranged  in 
layers  similar  to  the  cerebrum,  but  it  is  a  curious  feature 
in  the  cerebellum,  that  when  a  vertical  section  of  the 
mass  is  cut  into  and  solidified,  the  white  matter  is 
found  arranged  in  the  form  of  a  beautifully-defined 
tree,  called  from  this  appearance  the  arbor  vifce,  or 
tree  of  life. 

At  the  upper  part  of  the  spinal  column  is  a  singular 
bulb-shaped  mass  of  white  matter,  called  the  medulla 
oblongata.  It  is  situated  immediately  beneath  the 
corpus  callosum,  between  the  right  and  left  hemispheres 
of  the  cerebellum,  and  forms  the  point  of  union  between 
the  brain  and  spinal  cord,  although  it  properly  be- 
longs to  the  latter.  Its  functions  in  the  nervous 
system  are  complicated  and  important,  and  anatomists 
assign  it  a  very  prominent  position  in  the  distribution 
of  nerve-force.  It  is  not  necessary  in  this  condensed 
description  of  the  cranial  anatomy  to  dilate  upon  all 
the  divisions  and  subdivisions  into  which  this  little 
body  is  resolved ;  it  will  be  enough  to  mention  four, 
the  functions  of  which  are  far  more  important  than 
their  unpretentious  size  would  lead  us  to  expect.  The 


THE   HUMAN  ORGANISM. 


49 


medulla  oblongata  is  divided  into  two  halves,  like  the 
spinal  cord,  and  although  these  are  traversed  and  united 
by  bands  of  nerve-fibres,  the  functions  of  these  columns 
are  obviously  different. 

The  anterior  half  of  the  medulla  is  the  gate  through 
which  all  the  powers  of  motion  are  transmitted  to  the 
nerves  throughout  the  body ;  the  posterior  half  per- 
forms the  same  office  for  the  sensory  nerves ;  in  fact, 
whatever  powers  originate  in  the  brain  must  be  trans- 
mitted through  the  medulla  oblongata,  and  in  reflex 
action,  whatever  sensations  are  transmitted  to  the  brain 
must  in  like  manner  pass  through  this  singular  little 
mass  of  nervous  matter.  The  medulla  oblongata  is  also 
subdivided  laterally,  so  that  two  distinct  centres  of 
sensation  are  found  to  exist  in  the  posterior  half  and 
two  corresponding  centres  of  motion  in  the  anterior 
column.  It  has  been  found  that  if  one  of  the  anterior 
columns  of  the  medulla  is  cut  away,  the  power  of 
motion  in  one  half  the  body  is  lost,  although,  in  the 
other  half,  motion  will  remain  and  sensation  is  unim- 
paired ;  remove  the  other  half  of  the  anterior  column, 
and  all  motion  ceases ;  the  same  results  to  the  powers 
of  sensation  are  obtained  by  cutting  away  the  posterior 
columns  separately  or  together. 

Experiments  made  on  living  animals  have  shown  that 
whilst  successive  portions  of  the  brain  may  be  cut  away 
until  it  is  all  removed,  so  long  as  the  medulla  oblongata 
remains  uninjured,  the  functions  of  breathing,  degluti- 
tion, and  the  automatic  processes  of  life  still  go  on 
undisturbed. 

A  very  slight  wound  at  the  centre  of  the  medulla  is 
sufficient  to  produce  death,  and  the  functions  of  motion 
c  5 


50  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

and  sensation  are,  as  we  have  shown,  absolutely  depend- 
ent on  its  integrity  and  perfectness. 

It  has  been  assumed  that  the  instinctive  powers  of 
animal  life  were  centred  in  the  cerebellum;  but,  whilst 
that  organ  is  undoubtedly  essential  to  govern  and  com- 
bine the  instinctive  powers,  the  much  smaller  mass  of 
the  medulla  oblongata  is  evidently  the  chief  centre  of 
the  powers  themselves,  and  without  its  preservation, 
motion,  sensation,  and  even  life  itself,  cease  to  animate 
the  organism. 

There  are  twelve  pairs  of  nerves  given  off  from  the 
brain,  and  from  thence  to  the  organs  of  special  sense 
and  different  portions  of  the  head.  The  first  pair 
terminate  in  the  inner  portions  of  the  nose,  and  are 
called  the  olfactory  nerves;  the  second  pair  supply  the 
retina  of  the  eye,  and  are  called  the  optic  nerves ;  the 
third,  fourth,  fifth,  and  sixth  are  also  distributed  about 
the  eyes, — the  third,  fourth,  and  sixth  being  motor 
nerves, — the  fifth  pair,  called  the  trifacial,  are  sensory, 
and  send  off  branches  which  supply  the  cheeks,  nose, 
and  mouth.  The  seventh  pair  are  the  general  motor 
nerves  of  the  facial  muscles.  The  eighth  pair  are 
called  auditory  nerves,  and  end  in  the  interior  of  the 
ear.  The  ninth  pair  supply  the  back  of  the  mouth  and 
pharynx.  The  tenth  are  a  very  important  pair  of  nerves, 
called  pneumogastric.  They  originate  in  the  medulla 
oblongata,  communicate  with  the  lungs,  heart,  and 
stomach,  and  indeed  ramify  through  the  viscera  to  a 
considerable  extent. 

The  eleventh  pair  supply  the  muscles  of  the  neck, 
and  the  twelfth  communicate  with  the  tongue  and  the 
organs  of  speech. 


THE  HUMAN  ORGANISM.  51 

These  two  pairs  are  called  spinal  accessory  and  hypo- 
glossal  ;  but  physiologists  are  not  in  general  agreed 
upon  the  classification  and  names  of  the  cranial  nerves. 

The  nerves  are  mostly  cells,  or  tubules,  composed  of 
membraneous  sacs  or  sheaths  lined  with  nervous  matter, 
inclosing  nerve-filaments  in  the  form  of  bundles,  which 
stretch  away,  divide,  and  subdivide,  but  never  lose  the 
original  quality  of  sensation  or  motion  which  they  de- 
rive from  their  roots.  In  every  membraneous  sheath 
it  is  believed  there  are  two  distinct  sets  of  filaments, 
one  of  which  communicates  with  the  cerebral  hemi- 
spheres, and  the  other  with  the  spinal  cord. 

The  spinal  cord  itself  is  a  long,  irregular  column  of 
nerve-substance,  inclosed  in  a  sheath,  composed  of  the 
cranial  membranes  prolonged  down  the  spine.  It  ex- 
tends from  the  medulla  oblongata  to  the  second  lumbar 
vertebra  of  the  spine. 

The  spinal  cord,  although  composed  of  gray  and 
white  nervous  matter  like  the  brain,  presents  a  different 
arrangement  of  the  layers,  the  white  matter  being  on 
the  external,  and  the  gray,  or  cineritious  mass,  form- 
ing a  band  which  traverses  the  interior  of  the  column. 

Like  the  medulla  oblongata,  the  spinal  cord  is  di- 
vided into  two  symmetrical  halves,  united  in  the  middle 
by  a  commissure,  or  converging  lines  of  nerve-fibre ;  it 
is  also  separated  into  an  anterior  and  a  posterior  column 
by  a  vertical  fissure.  Each  lateral  half  is  traversed  by 
two  longitudinal  tracts  which  separate  it  by  distinct 
furrows.  Thus,  there  are  on  either  side  three  well- 
marked  columns,  called  the  anterior,  posterior,  and 
lateral. 

The  cord  is  enlarged  at  the  neck  and  loins,  and  from 


52  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

these  expansions  are  given  off  the  nerves  which  supply 
the  upper  and  lower  extremities.  From  the  spinal  cord 
are  given  off  thirty-one  pairs  of  nerves,  the  roots  of 
which  spring  from  either  side,  right  and  left.  The  first 
eight  pairs  arise  in  the  region  of  the  neck,  and  are 
called  cervical;  the  next  twelve  pairs,  corresponding 
to  the  number  of  ribs,  are  termed  dorsal ;  then  arise 
five  pairs  which  spring  from  the  lumbar  vertebrae ; 
and  the  remaining  six  originate  in  the  vertebral  bones 
which  divide  the  basin  of  the  pelvis,  and  supply  the 
lower  abdominal  regions. 

•Every  nerve-trunk  arises  from  a  distinct  root,  and 
these  roots  originate  in  pairs,  one  in  the  anterior  and 
the  other  in  the  posterior  half  of  the  column. 

The  nerves  which  spring  from  the  posterior  half  are 
nerves  of  sensation  ;  those  in  the  anterior  division  of 
the  cord,  motor  nerves.  And  here  let  us  remark  that, 
like  the  columns  of  the  medulla  oblongata,  if  one  of 
the  sensory  nerves  be  divided  at  any  portion  of  its 
length,  the  ultimate  point  which  it  supplies  becomes 
destitute  of  sensation.  A  corresponding  effect  is  pro- 
duced by  dividing  a  motor  nerve:  the  muscle  or  joint 
with  which  it  communicates  will  never  move  more, 
and  that,  notwithstanding  that  the  brain  and  spinal 
cord  may  remain  in  their  perfect  integrity. 

To  cut  or  sever  the  cord  itself  in  any  portion  of  its 
length  is  paralysis  of  both  motion  and  sensation  in  all 
those  parts  of  the  body  supplied  by  the  nerves  arising 
below  the  point  of  injury  ;  in  fact,  it  is  manifest  that 
the  stupendous  powers  of  motion  and  sensation  find 
their  instrumentalities  in  these  little  insignificant-look- 
ing nerve-filaments  j  sever,  wound,  or  injure  them,  and 


THE  HUMAN  ORGANISM. 


53 


paralysis  of  motion  or  sensation  is  just  as  inevitably 
the  result  as  if  the  columns  of  the  medulla  oblongata 
were  cut  away  as  above  described.  The  nerves  arise, 
as  we  have  said,  in  pairs;  a  nerve  of  motion  and  sensa- 
tion in  one  half  of  the  column,  and  corresponding 
roots  springing  from  the  other  half, — the  sensory  nerve- 
roots  arising  from  the  posterior  division,  the  motor 
from  the  anterior.  These  pairs  arise  at  first  singly, 
but  they  soon  after  combine  into  a  ganglionic  knot, 
again  to  divide  and  subdivide,  and  indeed  to  ramify 
into  countless  fibrous  lengths,  supplying  every  part 
of  the  body,  reaching  to  the  ultimate  points  of  the 
skin,  the  interior  of  the  bones,  muscles,  membranes, 
tissues,  and  blood-vessels;  in  fact,  it  would  be  impos- 
sible to  conceive  any  portion  of  the  organism  which  is 
not  supplied  with  some  extension  from  the  main  trunks 
of  the  cerebro-spinal  system. 

It  must  be  noted  that  nervous  action  is  invariably 
dual  or  reflex:  for  example,  the  cerebrum  wills  to  move 
a  joint  or  contract  a  muscle;  the  thought  is  imme- 
diately telegraphed  through  the  medulla  oblongata  to 
the  desired  point,  and  whatever  sensation  is  produced 
by  that  motion  is  instantaneously  telegraphed  back 
again  to  the  brain  by  the  corresponding  nerve  of  the 
pair.  Of  course  there  are  a  vast  number  of  motions 
going  on  in  the  system  which  proceed  wholly  inde- 
pendent of  volition.  Many  of  these  arise  under  the 
influence  of  the  pneumogastric  and  spinal  accessory 
nerves,  also  from  the  ganglionic  or  sympathetic  system, 
the  nerves  of  which  supply  the  functions  of  organic 
life;  but  whatever  motions  are  produced  under  the 
influence  of  nerve-action,  are  telegraphed  back  to  the 
,.* 


54 


ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 


brain  by  reflex  action.  When  the  system  is  in  health, 
the  motions  that  proceed  in  the  various  departments  of 
organic  life  are  so  mechanically  perfect  that  they  pro- 
duce no  other  sensation  than  a  generally  exhilarating 
realization  of  life;  but  when,  on  the  contrary,  there  is 
a  lack  of  equilibrium  in  the  system,  and  torpidity  or 
excessive  action  ensues,  the  result  is  disease,  and  the 
announcement  of  its  presence  is  telegraphed  to  the 
brain  in  the  sensation  called  pain.  It  may  be  argued 
against  this  position,  that  the  ganglionic  nerves  (a 
system  which  supplies  the  viscera  and  is  profusely  dis- 
tributed about  the  head  and  trunk)  are  neither  sensory 
nor  motot,  hence  that  those  portions  of  the  organism 
supplied  by  the  sympathetic  system  do  not  convey  to 
the  brain  the  sensations  of  pain. 

To  apprehend  the  working  of  this  complex  scheme 
of  nervous  action,  we  must  consider  the  nature  of  the 
ganglionic  or  sympathetic  system,  and  its  connection 
with  the  cerebro-spinal  nerves. 

The  sympathetic  system  consists  of  a  double  chain 
of  nervous  ganglia,  running  along  the  front  and  sides 
of  the  spinal  column,  and  connected  with  each  other 
by  slender  longitudinal  filaments.  Each  ganglion  is 
reinforced  by  a  motor  and  a  sensitive  filament,  derived 
from  the  cerebro-spinal  system,  and  thus  the  organs 
supplied  by  the  sympathetic  nerves  are  brought  directly 
into  communication  with  the  brain,  which  is  kept  in- 
formed of  all  the  influences  operating  on  the  organs 
supplied  by  the  sympathetics.  The  nerves  of  this  sys- 
tem are  distributed  to  the  heart,  liver,  spleen,  kidneys, 
intestines,  generative  organs,  head,  neck,  lungs,  and 
blood-vessels. 


THE  HUMAN  ORGANISM.  55 

The  whole  system  abounds  in  ganglia,  which  form 
plexuses  of  glands  and  nerves,  and  completely  overlay 
the  organs  which  they  supply.  Masses  of  sympa- 
thetic ganglia  abound  in  the  abdominal  regions,  the 
largest  of  which  has  been  named,  from  its  numerous 
inosculations,  the  solar  plexus  ;  but  the  entire  system 
communicates,  first  with  each  part  of  its  own  system, 
next  with  the  cerebro-spinal  system,  and  finally  with 
all  the  internal  viscera. 

Now,  although  the  connections  between  the  two  sys- 
tems are  preserved  throughout  the  body,  they  are  never- 
theless much  scattered  ;  and  as  the  sensory  and  motor 
nerves  do  not  penetrate  into  the  internal  portions  of 
the  organism,  where  the  sympathetics  most  abound,  it 
follows  that  the  telegraphic  communications  which  the 
latter  send  off  to  the  brain  must  proceed  more  slowly, 
as  they  act  through  a  secondary  system.  It  is  for  this 
reason  that  the  parts  of  the  body  immediately  under 
the  influence  of  the  cerebro-spinal  nerves  are  more  sen- 
sitive to  pain  than  those  supplied  by  the  sympathetics. 
The  sensations  travel  more  slowly,  and  the  motions, 
being  purely  instinctive,  do  not  report  themselves  to 
the  brain  as  directly  as  those  operating  immediately 
under  the  influence  of  the  will.  Still,  they  are  reported, 
and  it  is  by  this  intimate  connection  between  the  two 
systems  that  the  brain  is  kept  informed  of  all  that  is 
transpiring  in  the  body, — of  all  its  states  and  con- 
ditions,— and  that  without  the  fatigue  and  wear  which 
would  ensue  if  every  motion  were  immediately  under 
the  influence  of  the  will. 

In  describing,  even  in  this  brief  sketch,  the  action  of 
the  two  systems  of  nerves,  their  mutual  relations  to  each 


5 6  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

other,  and  the  intelligence  resident  in  the  brain,  we 
may  clearly  understand  how  the  skillful  physician  is  en- 
abled to  interpret  the  nerve-language  which  assumes  the 
tone  of  pain ;  and  the  only  marvel  is,  that  the  experi- 
ence and  observation  of  more  than  two  thousand  years 
of  medical  practice  have  not  been  sufficient  to  reduce 
symptomatic  indications  to  a  far  more  exact  status  than 
that  which  it  at  present  occupies.  But  let  us  retrace 
our  footsteps  a  little,  and  see  if  in  this  respect  we 
demand  too  much. 

The  cerebrum  is  obviously  the  seat  of.  consciousness. 
No  matter  how  structureless  and  insignificant  may 
appear  the  matter  of  this  grand  cranial  instrument, 
considered  in  its  physiological  workings  it  is  the  seat 
of  consciousness.  The  cerebellum  is  the  governing 
organ,  which  controls  and  directs  in  harmonious  combi- 
nations all  the  purely  instinctive  motions  of  the  system, 
and  enables  the  will,  emanating  from  cerebral  influence, 
to  put  its  designs  into  execution. 

The  medulla  oblongata  keeps  the  gate  through  which 
the  telegraphic  messages  of  the  mind  pass  forth,  and 
the  obedient  responses  of  the  muscles,,  or  the  com- 
plaints of  any  diseased  organs,  inform  the  conscious- 
ness of  their  condition.  The  cerebro-spinal  nerves, 
with  their  dual  functions  of  motion  and  sensation,  pro- 
voke the  muscles  to  act,  and  report  faithfully  back  to 
the  brain  the  sensations  which  all  such  actions  have 
produced. 

The  pneumogastric  and  spinal  accessory  nerves,  to- 
gether with  the  whole  array  of  the  sympathetic  system, 
pierce  into  the  dark  and  hidden  places,  removed  from 
the  exercise  of  the  will ;  but  still  they  cannot  escape 


THE  HUMAN  ORGANISM.  57 

from  the  duty  of  reporting  their  condition  upon  the 
little  fibres  of  the  cerebro-spinal  system  with  which 
they  are  connected,  and  this  again  sounds  the  alarm 
in  the  tones  of  pain  through  the  cerebral  hemispheres, 
where  it  reports  itself,  with  the  accompanying  demand 
upon  the  physician's  art  to  restore  the  equilibrium  which 
any  suffering  organ  has  lost. 

But  here  the  physician  himself  intervenes,  exclaim- 
ing, "Your  picture  is  an  exaggerated  one,  and  does 
not  tally  with  the  stern  demands  of  science  and  the 
accurate  revelations  of  fact.  The  nervous  system  does 
act  in  the  way  you  delineate,  and  does  aim  to  record 
the  conditions  of  the  organism  it  supplies  with  all  the 
fidelity  of  which  it  is  capable ;  but  that  it  does  or  can 
make  a  correct  record  of  all  the  conditions  under  which 
the  system  becomes  diseased,  that  it  can  locate  and  dis- 
close the  exact  extent  of  the  degradation  which  has 
beset  hidden  organs,  internal  tissues,  tumors  imbedded 
in  secret  places,  and  fluids  whose  course  no  eye  can 
trace,  is  an  assumption  which  none  but  the  ignorant  or 
transcendental  would  venture  to  put  forth. 

"All  that  the  physician's  art  can  achieve  must  be 
learned  from  symptoms;  and  these  do  not,  as  you 
allege,  constantly  and  correctly  report  themselves  on 
the  brain,  inform  the  consciousness,  or  register  their 
procedures  on  the  cerebrum.  Your  position  is  a  fal- 
lacy, then,  your  picture  a  fancy  sketch."  And  now, 
world  of  therapeutic  art,  and  realm  of  medical  science, 
it  is  at  this  point  that  I  propose  to  take  leave  of  you. 

Here  it  is  that  I,  the  disciple  of  electrical  science, 
and  the  propounder  of  a  new  method  in  therapeutics, 
commence  my  path  of  departure.  Electricity  is  at 
c* 


5 8  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

once  my  motor-power,  my  registrar-general ;  the  force 
of  my  will,  the  carrier  of  my  will,  my  silent  and  invol- 
untary operator,  working  the  machine  whilst  I  sleep, 
wakening  me  by  a  sense  of  pain  to  inform  me  when  I 
am  afflicted,  writing  the  record  of  my  case  on  my  brain 
when  I  am  otherwise  ignorant  of  it,  and  then  submis- 
sively bowing  its  supreme  powers  and  forces  to  my  con- 
trol as  my  agent  of  cure,  provided  only  I  have  learned 
its  language  and  can  read  its  silent  but  infallible 
records.  Electricity,  I  repeat,  can  and  does  inscribe 
on  my  brain  a  chart  of  the  organs  of  which  I  am  made 
up,  and  electricity  can  and  does  record,  in  characters 
which  all  may  learn  to  read,  the  conditions  of  every 
organ  and  the  extent  of  every  form  of  suffering  which 
afflicts  it.  If  the  physician  has  not  learned  to  read 
this  language  and  interpret  the  chart  which  the  life- 
lightnings  have  inscribed  on  the  human  head,  his 
ignorance  is  no  excuse  for  mine,  and  no  evidence  that 
I  cannot  perform  what  he  fails  in;  nay,  more,  it  is 
because  I  can  read  this  infallible  record,  and  that  with 
the  precision  of  a  mathematician  evolving  his  problems 
on  the  principles  of  exact  science,  that  I  now  write 
this  book,  demand  that  it  shall  be  read,  its  assertions 
tested,  and  its  claims  admitted  or  rejected  only  upon 
the  basis  of  practical  demonstration.  I  teach  herein 
the  people  who  read,  to  understand  their  own  organ- 
isms, without  being  compelled  to  shipwreck  brain  and 
intellect  upon  the  ocean  of  technical  verbiage.  I  teach 
the  people  who  read,  that  a  new  form  of  therapeutics 
is  in  the  world,  safe,  sure  in  action,  applicable  to  all 
forms  of  suffering,  attainable  in  practice  to  all  classes 
of  operators,  if  they  will  study  the  methods  and  ob- 


THE  HUMAN  ORGANISM, 


59 


serve  the  laws  which  govern  it.  But  I  also  teach  that 
if  the  powers  of  this  great  curative  agent  can  bring 
blessing,  it  is  also  susceptible  of  producing  injury. 

Abuse  its  powers  rudely,  grasp  its  lightnings  with  the 
hand  of  blind  ignorance,  and  it  will  retort  upon  you 
with  added  suffering,  and  perhaps  destruction ;  but 
reverently  study  the  laws  by  which  it  acts,  and  apply 
them  in  the  due  formulae  of  its  sublime  and  scientific 
modes,  and  it  will  become  a  therapeutic  agent  in  your 
hands  more  swift,  sure,  and  beneficent  than  all  the 
drugs  that  have  ever  been  compounded  since  tne  days 
of  Galen,  or  all  the  theories  that  have  been  enunciated 
since  the  generation  of  Aristotle. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

MATTER    AND    FORCE. 

UP  to  this  point  we  have  only  been  treating  of  the 
human  structure  in  its  physical  organization.  It  will 
now  be  necessary  to  analyze  the  conditions  of  motion 
and  characteristics  of  force,  which  draw  the  line  of 
demarkation  between  living  and  dead  matter. 

r  The  subtle  connections  by  which  mind  is  enabled  to 
act  upon  and  through  matter,  must  reside  in  the  realms 
of  force  ;  and  although  this  is  a  subject  that  has  baffled 
the  researches  of  philosophy  to  explain,  it  may  be  quite 
possible  to  throw  light  upon  it  when  once  we  have  ob- 
tained a  clue  to  unravel  the  mystery  of  what  vital  force 
really  is. 

Before  presenting  to  the  reader  the  arguments  by 
which  I  propose  to  sustain  my  opinion,  that  electricity 
and  the  vital  force  are  analogous,  if  not  actually  the 
same  elements,  I  desire  it  to  be  understood  that  I  am 
quite  aware  this  proposition,  whenever  hazarded  by 
others,  has  been  met  with  what  seems  to  me  to  be  a 
most  unreasonable  and  illogical  amount  of  scorn  and 
denial  by  many  of  the  most  authoritative  scientists  of 
the  day. 

That  electricity,  as  manifest  in  the  thunder-cloud, 
acts  in  a  totally  different  way  from  the  silent  flow  of  the 
vital  currents  in  man,  I  admit ;  but  it  is  now  generally 
60 


MATTER  AND  FORCE.  6 1 

conceded  that  that  same  electricity  in  the  thunder- 
cloud is  an  element  closely  analogous  to,  if  not  actu- 
ally the  same  as,  that  evolved  from  the  Leyden-jar,  the 
friction  machine,  and  even  the  electro-galvanic  and 
magnetic  battery.  Now,  the  force  generated  in  the 
electro-magnetic  battery  produces  a  set  of  phenomena 
in  the  human  structure  almost  similar  to  the  action  of 
the  life  principle  itself.  For  example,  when  this  life 
principle  is  plus  or  minus  in  the  human  system,  when 
it  is  deficient  at  one  point,  or  circulates  with  inflam- 
matory violence  in  another,  I  know  of  no  better 
method  of  regulating  it,  supplying  its  deficiency,  or 
controlling  its  force,  than  the  action  of  the  electro- 
magnetic battery  and  the  introduction  of  electricity 
into  the  system. 

I  will,  however,  proceed  with  the  various  proposi- 
tions I  have  to  allege  on  this  subject,  and  that  not 
for  the  purpose  of  arraying  my  opinions  against  those 
of  more  popular  authorities,  but  rather  because  I  think 
the  clear  understanding  of  this  question  throws  light 
upon  the  best  methods  of  dealing  with  the  organism 
vitalized  by  the  life  principle,  and  aids  the  physician 
in  the  application  of  electricity  as  a  remedial  agent. 

To  obtain  the  most  comprehensive  view  of  the  ac- 
tion of  the  electric  force,  we  must  remember  that 
gravitation,  heat,  light,  attraction,  repulsion,  and  all 
other  forms  of  motion  known  in  the  universe,  refer 
back  to  some  original  force.  That  force  may  be  con- 
sidered as  a  unit,  for  every  form  of  motion  seems 
to  have  but  two  modes,  and  those  are  attraction  and 
repulsion.  We  call  these  dual  forms  of  motion  by 
many  names,  but  after  all  they  are  still  attraction  and 

6 


62  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

repulsion,  or  positive  and  negative.  It  seems  reason- 
able to  assume,  then,  that  electricity  in  the  atmosphere, 
magnetism  in  the  earth,  the  properties  of  loadstones 
and  minerals,  the  forces  which  regulate  the  orbits  of 
bodies  in  space,  no  less  than  the  principles  of  growth 
and  decay,  are  all  parts  or  modifications  of  one  origi- 
nal force,  and  whether  we  call  them  galvanism,  mag- 
netism, electricity,  life,  vitality,  or  motion,  all  and  each 
move  in  one  of  the  two  modes  indicated  above,  so 
that  in  comparative  rest  they  may  be  called  positive 
and  negative,  and  in  action,  attraction  and  repulsion. 

Whilst  I  assume  that  this  universal  force  includes  all 
forms  and  varieties  of  motion,  we  must  also  be  pre- 
pared to  find  great  varieties  and  many  modifications  in 
forms  of  motion,  owing  to  the  countless  varieties  of 
material  through  which  force  is  exhibited. 

It  may  not  admit  of  a  doubt  that  the  principles  of 
cohesion  that  bind  together  the  atoms  of  a  dew-drop, 
are  the  same  as  those  that  combine  in  one  grand  system 
of  unity  the  planetary  satellites  of  the  sun. 

The  same  powers  of  repulsion  that  hold  apart  the 
atoms  in  that  dew-drop  and  prevent  its  crystallizing 
into  a  solid  body,  operate  in  a  similar  way  to  prevent 
the  planets  from  yielding  to  the  attractive  force  of  the 
sun  and  rushing  together  in  a  single  mass.  Yet  the 
exhibitions  of  attraction  and  repulsion  in  dew-drops 
and  solar  systems  do  not  convey  much  analogical 
meaning  to  the  mind,  and  the  forces  required  to  sustain 
and  uphold  the  mighty  machinery  of  the  universe  lose 
all  significance  as  we  contemplate  them  in  microscopic 
forms.  Still,  they  are  the  same,  and  though  modified 
by  the  media  of  the  material  objects  through  which 


MATTER  AND  FORCE,  63 

they  are  exhibited,  I  believe  the  dual  modes  of  one  ori- 
ginal force  will  explain  all  the  varied  phenomena  which 
we  call  by  many  names,  life  and  electricity  included. 
Again,  I  would  suggest  that  the  modifications  of  force 
exhibited  in  electricity  and  the  living  organism  are  so 
often  analogous  to  each  other,  that,  allowing  for  all  the 
differences  of  action  which  we  must  expect  to  find 
between  the  fluid  which  traverses  the  delicate  tissues  of 
a  living  body  and  that  which  is  eliminated  from  two 
or  three  inorganic  pieces  of  metal,  I  cannot  discover 
any  rational  cause  for  denying  the  identity  of  the  force, 
or  questioning  tfiat  the  vital  principle  in  man  is  elec- 
tricity because  it  does  not  evolve  all  the  phenomena 
produced  through  the  battery. 

As  a  mere  theory,  it  would  matter  little  whether  this 
point  were  established  or  refuted,  but  when  it  comes  to 
a  matter  of  practice,  and  I  find  myself  searching  for 
the  laws  which  connect  the  influences  of  the  living  tis- 
sues and  the  forces  of  electricity,  in  order  that  I  may 
control  the  latter  as  a  remedial  agent  for  the  former, 
it  then  becomes  me  to  analyze  all  the  phases  of  the 
subject,  and  that  in  the  unprejudiced  and  dispassionate 
form  which  so  important  a  research  demands. 

In  the  first  place,  then,  I  find  that  galvanic  action 
can  be  obtained  by  placing  a  number  of  slices  of 
muscle,  recently  taken  from  the  body  of  an  animal,  in 
the  form  of  a  pile. 

Such  a  battery  has  been  found  to  act  upon  galvanic 
instruments,  and,  according  to  Fernand  Papillon,  to 
excite  contraction  even  in  the  muscles  of  living  bodies. 

The  experiments  which  prove  that  galvanism,  mag- 
netism, and  electricity  can  stimulate  the  nerves  in  dead 


64  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

matter  to  perform  many  of  the  functions  of  life,  such 
as  muscular  contraction,  respiratory  motions,  etc.,  are 
too  numerous  and  too  well  established  to  need  reitera- 
tion ;  on  the  other  hand,  the  question  has  long  since 
been  decided,  that  no  agent  is  so  effective  in  promoting, 
all  the  functions  of  life  within  the  organized  body  as 
electricity. 

M.  Becquerel,  whose  long  years  of  industrious  re- 
search into  tile  phenomena  produced  by  electricity 
from  living  tissues  give  him  the  most  authoritative 
claim  to  be  heard  on  such  a  subject,  affirms  his  belief 
that  electricity  is  the  mysterious  agent  to  which  the 
action  of  the  capillaries  in  the  human  system  is  due. 
He  even  gives  the  term  'electro-capillary'  to  this  form 
of  motion,  besides  assuming  that  the  veins  and  arteries 
in  proximity  form  pairs,  which,  on  electro-galvanic 
principles,  may  account  for  the  processes  of  circulation 
much  more  satisfactorily  than  in  any  other  way.  That 
the  immense  vitality  of  the  nerves  and  the  important 
functions  they  perform  in  the  human  organism  are  in- 
timately related  to  the  dual  modes  in  which  electricity 
is  evolved  from  a  battery,  has  long  been  a  subject  of 
speculation  to  the  unprejudiced  philosopher.  The 
arrangement  of  nervous  matter  into  gray  and  white 
layers,  and  the  disposition  of  nervous  fibres  in  pairs  at 
their  points  of  origin,  are  both  suggestive  of  the  close 
analogy  which  exists  between  the  human  organism  and 
a  grand  battery,  wherein  the  electric  fluids  are  softened 
and  subdued  to  the  degree  of  tension  proper  to  so 
fine  and  complex  a  system  as  that  of  man. 

Whilst  experimentalists  in  other  countries  have  been 
devoting  their  opportunities  of  research  as  much  to 


MATTER  AND  FORCE.  65 

the  qualities  of  the  electric  fluid  as  to  its  action,  I  sub- 
mit that  my  twenty-five  years  of  equally  industrious 
research  and  continual  experience  have  qualified  me 
to  speak  on  the  subject  of  that  action,  and  the  results 
of  my  observations  leave  no  shadow  of  doubt  in  my 
mind  that  the  life  principle  in  man  is  electricity,  and 
that  all  the  forms  of  motion  transpiring  in  his  organism 
are  due  to  the  flow  of  electric  currents  generated  in  the 
brain,  renovated  and  nourished  by  the  electric  fluid 
transmitted  through  the  lungs  by  the  blood  currents  to 
the  brain  and  nervous  system,  distributed  by  the  blood 
as  pabulum  to  the  muscular  tissue,  and  absorbed  through 
the  appropriate  conduits  of  the  skin  from  the  atmos- 
phere, just  as  plants  drink  in  carbonic  acid  gas  through 
the  same  medium. 

That  action  and  reaction  is  the  law  of  life  is  an 
axiom  too  self-evident  to  admit  of  dispute.  Whilst 
the  frame  can  and  does  give  off  electricity  then,  as 
witnessed  in  the  phenomena  of  animal  magnetism, — 
sparks  emitted  from  the  hair  in  friction,  the  clothing 
in  cold  weather,  and  even  the  fingers'  ends  when  the 
feet  are  briskly  exercised  upon  a  carpet, — and  whilst 
electricity  can  and  does  stimulate  digestion  and  circu- 
lation, provoke  nervous  action,  muscular  contraction, 
enter  into  and  assimilate  with  the  human  organism 
more  completely  than  any  other  element  in  nature,  and 
whilst  its  absence  from  the  body  in  the  thunder-storm 
produces  lassitude,  and  its  abundance  in  clear,  cold 
weather  stimulates  to  high  energy,  I  ask  no  other  testi- 
mony than  the  obvious  revelations  of  Nature  herself  to 
elucidate  my  theory. 

Were  the  opinions  of  every  scientist  opposed  to  my 
6* 


66  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

belief,  these  and  multitudes  of  other  indications  evolved 
by  the  phenomena  of  life,  health,  and  disease,  would 
suffice  to  assure  me  that  I  supply  the  very  principle  of 
life  itself  when  I  infuse  electricity  into  the  system. 

In  1849  a  young  man  by  the  name  of  Russell, 
sailing  on  the  Alleghany  River,  was  upset  from  his 
boat  opposite  the  Pittsburg  Water-Works.  It  was 
quite  thirty  minutes  before  the  body  was  recovered 
from  the  water,  and  attempts  were  made  by  the  or- 
dinary methods  of  friction,  etc.,  to  produce  reanima- 
tion.  Being  present  at  the  scene  of  the  accident,  I 
succeeded  in  procuring  the  opportunity  to  apply  my 
battery  to  the  inanimate  form  in  my  own  way.  In 
about  ten  minutes  the  man  gave  signs  of  returning  life, 
and  in  less  than  half  an  hour  he  was  completely 
restored.  About  sixteen  years  previous  to  this  occur- 
rence, two  of  my  nearest  and  dearest  relatives,  namely, 
a  brother  and  sister,  were  killed  simultaneously  by  a 
stroke  of  lightning.  My  mother,  being  present  at  the 
scene  of  the  tragedy,  received  a  sufficient  portion  of  the 
shock  to  paralyze  one  side  of  her  body,  thus  apparently 
destroying  the  functions  of  life  in  one  half  of  the  sys- 
tem. That  dead  half  I  subsequently  restored  to  life  by 
the  action  of  certain  rude  batteries,  in  the  construction 
of  which  I,  even  then  a  child,  endowed  with  strong 
tendencies  in  that  direction,  was  myself  the  mechanic. 
I  do  not  wish  to  burden  my  work  with  details  which 
might  prove  irrelevant  to  its  main  points  of  interest; 
I  have  only  given,  therefore,  the  briefest  summary  of 
this  corollary  of  incidents ;  but  I  would  ask  the  least 
analytical  mind  that  peruses  them  to  array  itself  in  the 
attitude  of  a  deliberate  judgment  upon  this  singular 


MATTER  AND  FORCE.  67 

chain  of  testimony.  The  electric  fluid  produces  death 
in  two  individuals,  and  semi-death — that  is,  death  of 
one-half  of  the  life  functions — in  another,  and  that 
same  electric  fluid  restores  the  life  functions  thus  par- 
tially arrested  in  the  one  organism  ;  and  in  yet  another 
case,  where  the  entire  action  of  the  vital  principle  was 
suspended,  and  seemingly  destroyed,  by  drowning,  it 
restores  it  to  its  normal  condition  of  activity.  Here 
stand,  then,  three  infallible  witnesses  of  life,  death,  and 
cure, — each  arraying  itself  under  the  fiery  banners  of 
electricity,  and  each  performing  its  separate  office  upon 
the  human  frame. 

Physicists  may  insist  that  there  exists  a  difference 
between  the  phenomenon  which  operates  in  the  ovum  to 
promote  life  and  ultimate  organization,  and  that  which 
suspends  the  action  of  life,  and,  by  its  withdrawal,  tilti- 
mates  in  disorganization  ;  also,  that  there  is  a  difference 
between  the  force  which  within  the  system  causes  mus- 
cular contraction,  nervous  irritability,  respiratory  action, 
and  circulatory  flow,  and  that  which  without  the  system 
will  produce  all  these  results  when  applied  to  it ;  but, 
for  my  part,  I  can  only  see  differences  without  distinc- 
tions, and  distinctions  without  differences. 

As  regards  the  life  currents,  their  action  upon  healthy 
organisms  all  tend  to  a  general  condition  of  equilibrium, 
and  consist  of  an  immense  number  of  minor  polarities 
established  throughout  the  system. 

So  noiselessly  and  harmoniously  do  these  life  currents 
flow  on,  that  all  the  complex  forms  of  motion  proceed- 
ing in  the  heart,  lungs,  stomach,  and  viscera,  act 
without  arresting  attention  or  causing  sufficient  dis- 
turbance to  excite  a  recollection  of  their  action. 


68  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

Five  hundred  pieces  of  muscle  are  set  in  motion, 
and  their  contractile  movements  excite  nothing  but 
pleasurable  sensations. 

Six  hundred  millions  of  air-cells  are  inflated  in  less 
than  a  second  of  time,  with  no  appreciable  results  but 
enjoyment ;  miles  of  tubing  are  engaged  in  carrying 
forward  a  profound  system  of  manufactory  with  solid 
and  fluid  machinery,  and  all  this  goes  on  without  caus- 
ing a  single  jar  in  the  marvelous  array  of  activities  to 
impress  the  brain  with  one  single  idea  of  what  is  tran- 
spiring. Surely  no  one  will  insist  that  all  this  vast, 
moving  machinery  is  propelled  by  muscular  contraction, 
when  it  is  evident  that  the  muscles  are  stirred  to  motion 
by  the  nerves.  It  cannot  be  "nerve  aura,"  as  the 
phrase  goes,  when  it  is  conclusively  proved  that  a  large 
amount  of  the  pabulum  supplied  to  the  nerves  is  de- 
rived from  the  blood.  It  cannot  all  proceed  from  the 
activities  of  the  blood,  since  we  clearly  perceive  that 
the  blood  derives  much  of  its  vital  quality  from  the 
inhaled  air  of  the  lungs ;  neither  can  the  great  motor 
reside  wholly  in  the  lungs,  for  the  lungs  are  nothing 
more  than  air-cells  except  they  receive  the  nourish- 
ment of  the  blood  and  the  stimulus  of  the  nerves.  Does, 
then,  the  force  lie  in  the  system  of  digestion,  and 
grow  out  of  the  superior  quality  of  the  food  we  con- 
sume? Again  we  are  baffled,  for  on  the  very  thresh- 
old of  this  inquiry  we  are  met  with  the  fact  that  blood, 
air,  nerves,  and  muscles  must  all  combine  in  action 
ere  the  digestive  apparatus  can  supply  the  tissues  with 
the  nourishment  which  it  is  their  office  to  prepare. 

But,  say  the  philosophers,  "You  forget  that  it  is  not 
in  any  special  function  that  the  ALL  of  life  resides.  It 


MATTER  AND  FORCE.  69 

fs  in  the  fact  of  organization  as  a  whole,  in  the  fact  that 
a  grand  unity  of  forces  is  brought  to  bear  on  the  frame, 
that  life  inheres  therein  as  a  general  product."  Sup- 
posing we  could  grant  this  position,  how,  then,  would 
philosophy  explain  the  phenomenon  of  death?  how 
would  it  resolve  that  a  paralyzed  limb  should  cease  to 
be  a  part  of  the  grand  organism  one  moment,  and  by 
the  action  of  the  electric  battery  assume  its  place  as 
a  part  of  the  organism  the  next  moment  ? 

How  comes  it  that  the  organism,  if  its  vital  power  be 
purely  organic,  should  ever  become  diseased?  and  how 
is  it,  in  fine,  that  being  diseased,  the  self-same  electric 
battery  can  and  does  restore  it  to  its  normal  condition 
as  an  organism?  These  are  problems  which  philosophy 
must  meet.  If  it  would  take  and  hold  its  rank  as  such, 
it  must  explain  to  us  the  action  of  life  and  death. 

It  must  tell  us,  if  the  organism  itself  is  the  cause  of 
life,  or,  in  other  words,  its  own  cause  and  its  own  effect, 
why  it  is  active  in  life  and  still  in  death. 

The  organism  is  the  same  in  both  conditions,  and 
yet  how  different !  What  constitutes  that  difference, 
and  what  is  it  that  renders  it  an  organism  one  moment 
and  inorganic  matter  the  next? 

Organization  cannot  be  its  own  cause  and  its  own 
effect ;  this  is  an  unanswerable  axiom,  and  one  which 
must  be  met  ere  the  question  can  be  left  in  the  hands 
of  the  philosophers ;  who  would  refer  the  sources  of  life 
back  to  any  material  cause,  whether  in  the  several  parts 
or  their  totality.  I  have  put  these  positions  before  the 
reader  less  in  the  spirit  of  antagonism  to  what  I  deem 
wholly  untenable  philosophy,  than  to  lead  the  mind  to 
the  rational,  legitimate,  and  demonstrable  position  that 


70  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

the  life  principle  is  electricity,  that  disease  originates 
in  a  disturbance  of  the  electric  currents;  hence  that 
the  only  element  of  cure  with  which  we  can  hope  to 
deal  successfully  and  radically  must  also  be  electricity. 
This  position  is  not  difficult  to  prove,  and  the  attempt 
to  disprove  it  only  strengthens  our  case,  and  forces  us 
back  perpetually  to  the  same  great  remedial  agent. 
What,  then,  remains  to  be  discovered  ?  Why,  simply 
that  method  of  eliminating  the  fluid  which  will  best 
adapt  itself  to  the  finely  attenuated  currents  in  the 
human  system,  and  next  to  search  for,  and  put  in  prac- 
tice, those  laws  by  which  different  qualities  of  the  fluid 
can  be  adapted  to  different  conditions  of  the  diseased 
organism. 

In  the  perfectly  well-balanced  condition  of  the  human 
structure,  one  in  which  every  function  is  in  active  oper- 
ation, the  mind  controls  and  directs  the  organs  and 
puts  them  to  far  higher  uses  than  merely  instinctive 
actions. 

But  when  the  body  is  diseased,  the  mind  in  strong 
sympathy  with  the  body  cannot  effectively  control  it, 
and,  what  is  more,  all  the  conditions,  from  raving  mad- 
ness to  imbecility  or  morbid  melancholy,  may  be 
traced  to  their  source  in  the  influence  of  a  diseased 
organism.  Of  what  stupendous  import,  then,  be- 
comes the  discovery  of  the  link  that  connects  mind 
with  matter ! 

That  mind  is  not  matter  is  evident  from  the  fact 
that  mind  cannot  w////the  body  well,  when  it  becomes 
diseased  :  a  link  must  exist  between  them,  then, — a 
link  which  is  not  intelligence,  nor  yet  inert  matter. 
That  link  is  force ;  and  if  force  be  electricity  in  the 


MATTER  AND  FORCE.  71 

atmosphere,  the  planets,  suns,  systems,  rocks,  stones, 
crystals,  metals,  and  plants,  why  not  in  the  living 
tissues,  so  strongly  and  readily  affected  by  electricity? 

Electricity  is  the  universal  force  of  motion,  the 
substance  of  life,  the  grand  distributer  of  living  and 
subordinate  forces  throughout  the  whole  arcanum  of 
nature. 

The  cause  of  life  must  also  be  the  source  of  health, 
disease,  and  cure.  That  better  and  more  perfect  in- 
struments may  yet  be  constructed  for  the  generation 
of  electricity,  and  better  modes^of  adapting  it  to  the 
human  system  than  at  present  exist  be  discovered,  we 
may  all  confidently  hope  and  expect ;  but  though 
electricity  is  yet  in  its  infancy  as  a  science,  and  its 
application  as  a  remedial  agent  is  as  yet  very  im- 
perfectly understood,  enough  is  known,  and  enough 
even  in  this  brief  treatise  has  been  discussed,  to  prove 
that  its  action  as  a  therapeutic  must  depend  greatly  on 
the  scientific  understanding  with  which  it  is  adminis- 
tered, and  the  adaptation  of  its  forcible  but  subtle 
powers  to  the  various  conditions  which  it  is  designed 
to  operate  upon. 


CHAPTER   V. 

THE    CRANIAL    DIAGNOSIS. 

EVER  since  the  uses  of  electricity  have  been  recog- 
nized in  the  treatment  of  disease  as  a  popular  remedial 
agent,  it  has  been  observed  that  the  application  of  one 
of  the  poles  of  the  battery,  attached  to  a  sponge  or 
used  as  an  electrode  in  any  way,  would  produce  espe- 
cially painful  sensations  when  directed  to  a  sore  spot 
or  diseased  organ. 

Those  who  have  improved  upon  this  method  of  diag- 
nosing by  aid  of  the  battery,  and  carefully  watched  the 
effects  produced  by  passing  over  the  organism  with  the 
electrode,  must  be  aware  of  the  peculiar  susceptibility 
of  the  fluid  to  detect  disease.  Indeed,  we  need  hardly 
remind  any  of  our  readers  who  have  ever  witnessed 
electrical  medical  practice,  that  it  has  often  been  a 
source  of  amusement  no  less  than  astonishment  to 
watch  the  injured  muscles  contract  beneath  the  action 
of  the  searching  fluid,  or  the  hurt  nerves  quiver  when 
their  lost  equilibrium  was  revealed  through  the  pun- 
gent applications  of  electricity. 

Ignorant  lookers-on  have  been  actually  seen  to  smile, 
and  felicitate  themselves  with  the  air  of  spectators  at 
an  amusing  entertainment,  as  the  victims  of  this  kind 
of  diagnosis  shrank  away  from  the  lightning-knives 
that  were  piercing  their  suffering  frames ;  and  none  but 
72 


THE   CRANIAL   DIAGNOSIS. 


73 


the  hapless  patients  themselves  seem  to  have  realized 
that  such  experiments  were  painful,  might  be  productive 
of  injury,  and  sometimes  did  actually  result  in  muscular 
contractions,  nervous  spasms,  and  local  aggravations 
of  disease. 

Make  as  light  of  the  subject  as  we  may,  one  thing  is 
certain :  if  electricity  can  cure,  it  can  also  kill ;  if  it 
can  assuage  pain,  it  can  just  as  surely  produce  it ;  it 
can  create  as  well  as  disperse  tumors,  paralyze  as  well 
as  renovate,  and  injure  by  unscientific  applications  as 
effectually  as  it  can  benefit  the  organism  by  skillful 
methods.  My  own  practice  has  been  marked  by  mul- 
titudes of  cases  in  which  patients  have  come  to  me 
with  partial  paralysis,  aggravated  conditions  of  tumor, 
and  nervous  derangements,  occasioned  by  rank  mal- 
practice with  galvanism  and  electricity ;  and  thus  we 
keep  adding  to  the  list  of  diseases  which  already  afflict 
the  race,  and  convert  the  healthful  currents  of  electric 
life  into  a  fresh  source  of  bane  and  injury.  Besides 
the  actual  suffering  experienced  in  submitting  to  this 
mode  of  diagnosing,  I  find,  from  repeated  observation 
of  its  action,  that  it  is  not  reliable  in  detecting  disease. 

I  have  myself  watched  the  operator  passing  the 
electrode  over  the  surfaces  of  diseased  organs,  such 
as  the  kidneys,  heart,  liver,  etc.,  and  utterly  fail  to 
discover  the  seats  of  injury  hidden  beneath.  These 
failures,  no  less  than  the  serious  damage  the  structure 
is  liable  to  receive  in  feeling  for  the  parts  affected,  de- 
termine me  to  put  in  my  protest  against  such  pernicious 
attempts.  In  fact,  as  above  stated,  I  have  seen  the 
worst  effects  produced  upon  persons  thus  examined,  and 
I  have  long  since  come  to  the  conclusion  that  if  there 
i>  7 


74  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS 

was  no  better  way  of  diagnosing  disease,  the  old  plan 
of  symptomatic  indications,  confirmed  by  partial  guess- 
work, was  at  least  more  safe  and  far  less  painful. 

Careful  study  and  systematic  research,  however,  have 
unfolded  to  me  not  only  a  safer  but  a  far  surer  method 
of  diagnosis,  and  that  by  the  scientific  application  of 
electricity,  in  such  a  fashion  as  reveals  a  new  and  won- 
derful phase  of  anthropology.  It  is  many  years  since 
I  discovered  that  the  human  brain  is  a  chart  upon  which 
may  be  found  delineated  all  the  organs  of  the  body, 
and  with  these,  a  correct  and  comprehensible  record 
of  the  exact  condition  in  which  the  organs  exist.  I 
am  quite  aware  that  the  theories  of  anatomists,  and 
many  of  the  self-elected  arbiters  of  opinion  upon 
medical  subjects,  are  opposed  to  the  acceptance  even 
of  the  possibility  that  such  a  system  of  diagnosis  can 
be  made.  It  was  only  since  the  writing  of  this  chapter 
was  commenced  that  one  of  my  students,  commenting 
on  the  invariable  success  which  attended  this  method 
of  diagnosis,  was  insolently  rebuked  by  a  well-known 
medical  practitioner  of  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  on  the 
ground  that  it  was  an  impossibility  to  detect  diseased 
conditions  of  the  various  organs  on  the  brain,  and  that 
the  woman  who  claimed  to  do  so  "was  mad,"  and  any 
one  who  reaffirmed  it  for  her  was  as  mad  as  herself! 

Remembering  that  every  great  reformer  who  has 
dared  to  advance  one  step  beyond  the  beaten  path  in 
which  mediocrity  delights  to  run,  whether  in  religion, 
art,  science,  or  politics,  has  been  invariably  called 
"mad;"  recollecting,  moreover,  that  one  of  the  most 
popular  definitions  that  has  ever  been  rendered  of 
genius  is,  that  it  is  "insanity,"  lean  afford  to  con- 


THE    CRANIAL   DIAGNOSIS.  75 

tent  myself  with  the  brand  of  insanity,  shared  by  the 
noblest  and  most  progressive  minds  in  the  world,  and 
simply  reaffirm  to  my  readers  that  for  twenty-five  years 
I  have  practiced  this  method  of  cranial  diagnosis  with 
invariable  success;  that  I  have  communicated  it  to 
several  of  my  pupils,  who  practice  it  with  more  or  less 
correctness  according  to  their  capacity  to  master  its 
scientific  details;  that  I  still  follow  it,  and  at  this  pres- 
ent writing  may  be  found  in  its  exercise  any  day  during 
business  hours,  when  those  who  seek  me  for  this  pur- 
pose are  in  attendance. 

It  was  about  the  year  1848  that  I  arrived  at  the  con- 
clusion that  the  nature  and  seat  of  disease  could  be 
correctly  ascertained  from  cranial  diagnoses.  I  beg 
distinctly  to  state  here,  that  I  do  not  derive  my  system 
from  phrenology,  nor  any  accepted  or  rejected  methods 
now  in  use.  I  conceived  the  idea  that  the  brain,  as  the 
great  nerve-centre  and  focal  point  to  which  all  sensory 
and  motor  nerves  report  themselves,  should  be  the 
map  on  which  the  organs  and  their  special  conditions 
are  represented.  I  tried  and  demonstrated  the  correct- 
ness of  this  hypothesis  in  a  series  of  carefully  con- 
ducted experiments,  and  the  result  has  not  only  proved 
the  truth  of  my  theory,  but  furnished  me  with  hun- 
dreds of  explanations  to  suffering  conditions  of  the 
physique,  which  would  else  have  remained  a  sealed 
book  to  me.  I  do  not  conceive  that  I  am  bound  to 
bestow  upon  the  army  of  quacks  and  pretenders  who 
flood  the  world,  the  results  of  my  long  years  of  study 
by  publishing  the  minutiae  of  my  system,  neither  do  I 
propose  to  put  this  new  weapon  of  defense  against 
charlatans  into  their  very  hands. 


76  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

The  gentlemen  who  think  that  any  woman  must  be 
mad  who  pretends  to  know  more  than  they  do,  or 
deem  nothing  but  lunacy  can  advance  one  step  beyond 
them,  may  find  out  as  best  they  can  the  secret  of  my 
madness. 

To  the  students  who  do  not  believe  they  know  every- 
thing, and  realize  how  much  more  effective  my  method 
has  been  to  discern  the  true  character  of  disease  than 
the  assumed  sanity  of  fossilized  schools  of  routine  prac- 
tice, my  system  has  been  taught ;  and  in  every  instance 
in  which  it  has  been  studied  intelligently,  it  results  in 
the  same  characteristic  methods  of  cranial  diagnosis. 

I  have  now  only  to  add,  that  in  making  these  diag- 
noses I  attracted  the  attention  of  some  medical  prac- 
titioners in  New  York,  whose  modesty  was  as  eminent 
as  their  skill.  These  gentlemen,  who  were  not  of  that 
school  of  thinkers  whose  highest  authority  is  to  be 
found  in  the  single  vowel  /,  have  frequently  attended 
my  operating-rooms,  pronounced  the  results  of  my 
electrical  diagnoses  truly  wonderful,  and  a  complete 
revelation  in  therapeutic  science. 

In  conclusion,  I  have  now  been  practicing  this 
method  for  upwards  of  twenty  years.  To  assume  in- 
fallibility for  the  status  at  which  I  have  myself  arrived 
would  be  an  amount  of  arrogance  worthy  only  of  a 
sect,  a  clique,  or  a  craft ;  but  I  nevertheless  believe 
that  the  system  itself  is  infallible,  and  when  humanity 
has  sufficiently  realized  the  subtle  relations  between 
the  brain  and  the  physique,  to  follow  them  out  in  their 
exactitude,  it  will  be  found  possible  to  detect  the 
scratch  of  a  pin  or  a  slight  bruise  recorded  on  the  mar- 
velously  fine  tablets  of  the  great  nerve-centre. 


THE   CRANIAL   DIAGNOSIS. 


77 


In  this  connection  I  feel  bound  to  state  that  my 
method  of  cranial  diagnosing — the  result  of  many 
years  of  study  and  research — is  now  secured  to  me  by 
caveat.  The  charts  on  which  the  system  is  laid  out 
with  mathematical  precision  will  in  due  time  be  given 
to  the  world,  and  when  once  popularized,  I  shall  no 
longer  be  subject  to  the  attempts  of  presumptuous  imi- 
tators to  acquire  in  a  few  short  hours  the  knowledge 
which  it  has  cost  me  a  quarter  of  a  century  to  perfect. 
Meantime,  the  facts  which  result  from  my  labors  are 
testified  to  by  an  army  of  living  witnesses,  in  the  face 
of  whose  grateful  recognition  of  my  services  I  can 
afford  to  be  stigmatized  as  "mad"  by  presumptuous 
ignorance  and  unscrupulous  charlatanism. 

THE    RATIONALE   OF   DISEASE. 

The  principles  upon  which  I  base  my  applications 
of  electricity  to  diseased  organisms  must  have  already 
been  apprehended  by  the  intelligent  reader  in  several 
parts  of  this  volume,  but  in  order  to  afford  to  the  un- 
scientific student  the  greatest  amount  of  facility  for 
mastering  as  much  of  the  subject  as  may  be  necessary 
for  domestic  practice,  I  shall  here  lay  down  again,  in 
the  plainest  possible  terms,  my  theory  of  disease  and 
cure. 

In  health,  I  claim  that  the  various  motions  of  the 
body,  whether  under  the  guidance  of  will  or  simply 
instinctive,  are  all  operative  by  the  influence  of  force. 
I  claim  that  vital  force,  or  the  "life  principle,"  is  not 
a  property  of  vital  tissue,  nor  yet  the  result  of  organi- 
zation. 

7* 


78  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

Muscular  contraction,  nervous  irritability,  etc.,  are 
secondary  results,  and  merely  modes  in  which  the  one 
great  original  force  of  life  expresses  itself  through 
different  tissues.  As  to  the  question  of  organization 
being  the  cause  of  life,  the  phenomenon  of  death  occur- 
ring, as  I  have  before  shown,  whilst  the  organism  is 
itself  intact,  and  the  fact  that  life  precedes  organiza- 
tion, and  is  its  cause,  rather  than  its  effect,  form  argu- 
ments against  this  position,  from  which  there  is  no 
appeal. 

What,  then,  remains?  I  claim  that  the  life  prin- 
ciple in  man  is  the  life  principle  in  all  things;  that  the 
nearest  approach  we  can  discover  in  elemental  sub- 
stances to  this  universal  life  principle  is  electricity, 
with  all  its  different  modes  and  varieties  of  exhibition. 

Health  being  the  normal  condition  of  the  body,  in 
health  the  electric  currents  are  all  in  perfect  operation, 
and  their  equable  flow,  in  traversing  the  system,  is 
itself  health.  Now,  the  least  disturbance  in  the  distri- 
bution of  the  electric  currents  must  of  necessity  affect 
the  points  where  that  disturbance  occurs.  For  instance  : 
if  the  stomach  or  any  portion  of  the  digestive  appa- 
ratus absorb  too  much  or  too  little  food, — if  the  pabu- 
lum which  supplies  it  is  unfit  for  its  support, — the  life- 
lightnings  are  arrested,  or  unduly  quickened,  by  the 
interposing  obstacles.  They  refuse  to  act,  or  are 
forced  on  with  undue  excitement ;  the  loss  of  equi- 
librium is  the  loss  of  health ;  and  disease,  engendered 
by  the  first  disturbance  of  the  life-currents,  immediately 
ensues. 

One  disease  begets  another,  and  before  the  silent 
channels  of  the  force  can  be  renovated  in  one  direction 


THE   CRANIAL   DIAGNOSIS.  79 

they  are  so  obstructed  in  others  that  slight  disabilities 
become  chronic  diseases,  and  various  unnatural  con- 
ditions are  set  up  from  the  one  original  hindrance. 

The  first  disturbance  may  occur  in  the  lungs,  head, 
spine,  skin,  or  at  any  given  point  of  the  body;  but, 
wherever  it  is,  the  real  source  of  disease  lies  in  any 
check  or  unnatural  impulse  given  to  the  flow  of  the  life 
currents.  If  the  lungs  inhale  vitiated  airs,  or  too  little 
or  too  much  of  the  oxygenated  fluid  of  the  atmosphere, 
a  disturbance  is  at  once  set  up  in  the  lung-tissues,  by 
which  the  blood  is  corrupted,  the  body  deprived  of  nu- 
triment, the  health  equilibrium  destroyed. 

This  theory  of  disease  applies  with  universal  force  to 
every  part  of  the  system  alike.  If,  then,  we  are  looking 
for  a  universal  restorative  as  well  as  a  universal  cause 
for  disease,  in  what  can  we  possibly  find  it  but  in  the 
life-giving  element  itself?  It  is  an  impossibility  to  ob- 
tain the  vital  fluid,  modified  by  passing  through  the 
living  tissues,  except  in  the  element  given  off  by  animal 
magnetism.  Even  if  the  living  magnetic  forces  of  one 
individual  could  apply  to  all  the  varied  conditions  of 
many  (a  thing  which  experience  proves  to  be  an  im- 
possibility), we  should  still  require  that  the  magnetizer 
should  be  perfectly  healthful,  sound,  sane,  and  then 
possessed  of  the  requisite  mobility  of  fluidic  life  to 
apply  to  all  conditions  of  organism  and  disease. 

The  improbability  of  attaining  the  perfection  of  such 
an  instrument  in  all  cases,  even  where  the  possibility 
existed,  renders  the  application  of  animal  magnetism 
inadmissible  as  a  regular  therapeutic  agent.  Again, 
therefore,  we  recur,  with  reasonable  chances  of  success, 
to  the  existence  of  a  mineral  fluid  possessing  the  near- 


80  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

est  proximate  similitude  to  the  vital  principle,  and  capa- 
ble of  such  modifications  of  force  and  quality  as  will 
be  found  applicable  to  many  conditions  of  disease.  If 
we  cannot  always  insure  success  in  the  use  of  the  battery 
when  directed  by  science  and  controlled  by  skill,  we 
must  remember  that  in  its  application  to  remedial  pur- 
poses electricity  is,  as  yet,  but  little  understood. 

To  destroy  cancers  and  tumors,  remove  fibroid 
growths,  and  distribute  the  forces  of  life  equally  through 
paralyzed  parts  or  inflamed  tissues,  electricity  has 
already  been  an  approved  instrument.  To  cure  nearly 
all  nervous  disorders,  and  apply  successfully  to  mor- 
bid conditions  of  the  blood,  digestive  or  respiratory 
organs,  the  electrical  forces  have  been  acknowledged  as 
the  most  available  means.  For  the  amputation  of  parts, 
the  cauterization  of  wounds,  the  suspension  of  a  hemor- 
rhoidal  flow,  or  general  surgical  operations,  electricity 
is  one  of  the  best  remedial  agents  known  ;  but  the  pro- 
found ignorance  of  the  community  on  its  methods  of 
application,  the  determined  bigotry  of  many  of  the 
medical  faculty  in  opposing  all  advance  or  suggestion 
of  advance  in  its  use,  beyond  the  narrow  spheres  of 
their  own  experience,  and  the  strong  and  perhaps  natural 
tendency  to  experiment  with  this  force,  so  little  known, 
so  ill  understood,  all  tend  to  diminish  public  confidence 
in  its  virtue,  and  render  the  uninformed  cautious  of 
submitting  themselves  to  be  tampered  with  by  the  pro- 
fessors of  a  comparatively  unknown  art. 

From  my  own  experience  in  the  uses  of  electricity, 
I  have  entire  faith  in  its  scientific  appliance,  but  an 
equally  strong  aversion  to  its  exercise  in  unscientific 
hands.  I  do  not  claim  infallibility  for  my  practice  of 


MATTER  AND   FORCE.  8 1 

electricity,  nor  do  I  apprehend  I  have  done  more  than 
enter  upon  the  first  step  of  the  vestibule  which  will 
conduct  the  race  into  the  arcanum  of  the  life  mystery; 
but  that  which  I  do  claim  I  found  on  experience,  prove 
by  living  witness,  and  demonstrate  by  daily  practice; 
it  is  this:  that  the  methods  of  treatment  given  in  this 
book  will  be  found  effective  in  subduing  the  several 
diseases  to  which  I  direct  them  as  applicable  ;  also,  that 
numerous  other  complaints  of  far  more  important  and 
complicated  character  will  yield  to  carefully  directed 
electrical  treatments,  and  that  with  study  and  experi- 
ence, continually  strengthened  by  fresh  unfoldments  of 
electrical  science,  this  life-giving  fluid  will  in  a  few  gen- 
erations be  recognized  as  the  one  grand  remedial  agent, 
and  that  its  orderly  applications  in  skillful  hands  will  be 
found  capable  of  curing  every  complaint  that  is  curable, 
and  elevating  the  human  physique  to  the  highest  stand- 
ard of  which  it  is  susceptible. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

ELECTRICITY. 

WHETHER  electricity  be  a  force,  a  fluid,  a  mode  of 
motion,  or,  as  I  have  claimed  for  it,  the  actual  life  of 
things, — the  real  original  element  in  which  resides  the 
sum  of  all  forces  and  motors, — is  not  relevant  to  our 
present  purpose  to  discuss  further.  We  are  about  to 
consider  only  some  of  the  modes  in  which  electricity 
has  been  known  and  is  now  exhibited,  and  more  es- 
pecially in  regard  to  the  machinery  by  which  it  be- 
comes most  applicable  to  therapeutic  purposes. 

"Electricity"  is  a  term  derived  from  the  Greek 
word  elektron,  and  at  one  time  it  was  applied  exclu- 
sively to  designate  the  product  called  amber,  which 
abounds  on  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  and, 
from  being  found  to  possess  in  a  very  remarkable  de- 
gree the  property  of  attraction,  was  believed  by  the 
ancients  to  be  endowed  with  sundry  mysterious  pow- 
ers, even  life,  and  something  of  the  nature  of  soul. 
Amber  is  a  fossil  of  a  vegetable  origin,  or,  more  prop- 
erly speaking,  it  may  be  regarded  as  a  fossilized  gum. 

Under  the  influence  of  friction  its  attractive  power 
is  very  remarkable,  and  those  now  engaged  in  cutting 
it  into  the  form  of  ornaments  are  found  to  become  so 
subject  to  nervous  excitations  in  the  process  of  their 
work  that  they  are  obliged  to  change  the  pieces  they 
82 


ELECTRICITY.  83 

are  employed  upon  constantly,  in  order  that  the  fric- 
tion ized  quality  of  the  substance  may  subside. 

Amber  and  its  peculiar  powers  are  frequently  men- 
tioned by  classical  writers,  more  especially  Thales  of 
Miletus,  and  Pliny. 

It  would  seem  that  other  ancient  writers  also  were 
acquainted  with  the  properties  of  amber,  and  the 
superstitious  awe  with  which  it  was  regarded  by  the 
Greeks  and  Romans  caused  them  to  associate  it  with 
the  famous  Magnesian  stone,  so  frequently  alluded  to  in 
classical  writings,  and  used,  no  doubt,  as  the  moderns 
would  now  apply  the  loadstone  or  any  natural  magnet. 

The  phenomenon  of  sparks  beingemitted  from  woolen 
clothing  and  hair  in  dry  weather,  as  well  as  the  elec- 
trical power  of  the  gymnotus,  are  no  new  discoveries ; 
but  the  systematic  investigation  of  electrical  force  as 
a  science  did  not  seem  to  have  been  attempted  until  the 
year  1600,  when  Dr.  Gilbert,  of  England,  announced 
certain  theories  concerning  the  action  of  attraction  and 
magnetism  as  derived  from  the  loadstone  and  other  min- 
erals. Dr.  Gilbert  was  one  of  the  first  scientists  who 
suggested  that  the  powers  of  magnetism  were  more 
effective  in  a  cool,  dry  atmosphere  than  in  one  satu- 
rated with  moisture. 

There  are  many  curious  facts  in  nature  to  justify  this 
theory,  even  the  phenomenon  of  an  ostrich-feather 
becoming  strongly  charged  with  electricity  when  it  is 
held  against  the  currents  of  hot,  dry  winds  that  blow 
at  certain  seasons  over  the  deserts  of  Africa;  this  and 
many  similar  experiments  prove  that  dry  atmospheres, 
in  connection  with  extremes  of  heat  or  cold,  are  the 
most  favorable  conditions  for  the  action  of  frictional 


84  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

electricity.  It  is  entirely  different  in  the  production 
of  electro-magnetism.  Here  every  experienced  medi- 
cal electrician  can  testify  that  the  presence  of  moisture 
on  the  skin  is  necessary  to  promote  the  assimilation  of 
the  electric  currents  with  the  organism. 

Among  the  ancients,  it  was  generally  believed  that 
the  power  of  the  loadstone  was  in  some  mysterious 
manner  due  to  the  influence  of  ^Esculapius  the  healer, 
esteemed  as  a  god  in  heathen  mythology.  The  force 
evolved  from  the  magnet,  minerals,  and  crystals  was 
also  deemed  a  gift  of  the  gods,  and  Apollo,  Castor  and 
Pollux,  and  Mercury,  the  "swift-winged  messenger  of 
the  gods,"  were  supposed  to  exert  special  influences 
in  connection  with  magnetism. 

Could  we  disentangle  the  legends  of  mythology 
from  the  indications  of  science  and  the  half-formed 
speculations  of  philosophy,  we  should  no  doubt  per- 
ceive that  many  of  the  occult  principles  of  nature 
were  sought  to  be  embodied  in  the  fabled  deities  of 
the  skies.  It  is  curious  and  not  uninstructive  to  trace 
out  the  connection  between  mythical  ideas  and  the 
discoveries  of  modern  science ;  and  the  fact  that  the 
powers  of  the  magnet  were  known  and  used  so  many 
centuries  ago,  throws  much  light  upon  the  mysteries 
of  ancient  worship  and  the  art  of  healing. 

We  need  not  reiterate  any  accounts  of  the  progress 
elicited  in  electricity  and  magnetism  during  the  last 
century,  save  to  notice  one  or  two  leading  points 
which  bear  upon  the  construction  of  the  machines 
now  found  so  valuable  in  therapeutic  practice.  The 
Leyden-jar  was  first  used  in  1748,  and  its  power  in 
collecting  and  discharging  the  electric  element  has 


ELECTRICITY.  85 

been  thoroughly  tested.  Galvanism  was  named  after 
Galvani,  the  originator  of  the  galvanic  battery,  so  well 
known  in  the  realms  of  science.  The  voltaic  pile 
was  called  after  the  constructor,  Volta;  but  the  in- 
crease of  power  and  intensity  procured  through  the 
pile  is  due  to  an  increase  of  the  number  and  size 
of  the  plates  employed,  rather  than  to  any  material 
difference  in  the  quality  of  the  force  evolved. 

The  discovery  of  the  close  relations  subsisting  be- 
tween electricity  and  magnetism,  and  the  construction 
of  a  machine  combining  the  properties  peculiar  to 
both  conditions  of  the  fluid,  were  due  to  the  researches 
of  Prof.  Oersted,  of  Copenhagen,  who  contributed 
some  valuable  theories  on  the  subject  in  1819-20. 
Prof.  Oersted  demonstrated  the  fact  that  when  the 
two  poles  of  a  galvanic  battery  were  united  by  a  con- 
ducting wire,  and  this  wire  was  brought  into  proximity 
with  a  magnetic  needle,  the  latter  tended  to  turn  at 
right  angles  with  the  former. 

M.  Arago  supplemented  the  researches  of  Prof. 
Oersted  in  many  important  directions.  He  showed 
that  the  wire  joining  the  two  poles  of  a  galvanic  bat- 
tery was  capable  of  imparting  magnetism  to  iron  filings 
whilst  the  battery  was  in  action.  Again,  Ampere  carried 
forward  the  progress  of  discovery,  and  proved  that  two 
parallel  wires  transmitting  currents  of  electricity  in  the 
same  direction  attract  each  other,  whilst  similar  wires 
transmitting  currents  in  opposite  directions  repel  each 
ether. 

From  this  Ampere  evolved  his  remarkable  hypothesis 
explanatory  of  the  laws  of  electro -magnetism,  viz., 
"  Currents  moving  in  the  same  direction  attract,  and 

8 


86  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS, 

in  opposite  directions  repel,  each  other."  Again  he 
says,  "  The  magnetism  of  a  bar  of  iron  consists  of  cur- 
rents of  electricity  revolving  at  right  angles  to  the 
length  of  the  bar  around  each  particle  of  the  metal." 

Prof.  Henry,  of  Washington,  was  probably  the  first 
scientist  who  clearly  demonstrated  the  application  of 
the  above-named  theories  in  the  construction  of  the 
electro-galvanic  battery.  In  the  machine  devised  by 
the  professor,  he  caused  a  coil  of  wire  to  be  wound 
round  a  bar  of  iron  bent  in  the  form  of  a  horse-shoe ; 
this  wire  he  connected  with  a  galvanic  battery,  and 
the  result  was  the  generation  of  a  powerful  current  of 
magnetism. 

In  this  connection  we  must  not  forget  to  mention 
the  discovery  of  Prof.  Faraday,  who  claimed  that 
magnetic  properties  are  the  attributes  of  all  bodies, 
and  that  the  currents  run  either  in  the  direction  of  the 
greatest  length,  or  at  right  angles  with  the  length  of 
a  body,  and  this  second  current  is  named  "dia- 
magnetic." 

In  1802  M.  Coulomb,  a  French  savant  of  great 
eminence,  conducted  some  interesting  experiments  by 
the  employment  of  a  glass  receiver,  from  the  top  of 
which  he  suspended  a  silk  fibre,  attached  to  the  sub- 
stance to  be  examined.  We  need  not  repeat  the  de- 
tails of  his  experiments  in  this  place,  as  they  belong 
more  immediately  to  the  department  of  mechanics 
than  that  of  therapeutics. 

For  a  still  further  elucidation  of  the  principles  de- 
veloped in  the  construction  of  batteries  adapted  to 
medical  treatments,  I  shall  now  give  several  quotations 
from  the  various  works  on  the  subject,  which  will  explain 


ELECTRICITY.  87 

some  of  my  reasons  for  devoting  so  many  years  to  the 
perfecting  of  the  Combination  Batteries,  which  I  have 
adopted  solely  in  my  practice,  after  having  tried  many 
others  with  less  favorable  effect.  My  varied  experi- 
ences in  the  evolvement  of  galvanism,  magnetism,  and 
combinations  of  electrical  force  have  been  long  and 
faithfully  tested,  and  although  there  is  still  much  to 
learn  and  much  to  improve  in  every  direction,  the  scien- 
tific results  I  have  obtained  with  my  batteries  as  applied 
to  the  cure  of  disease  are  most  valuable  and  satisfactory. 

On  the  existence  of  a  different  quality  in  the  cur- 
rents evolved  from  batteries,  several  writers  say: 

"  Currents  of  different  qualities  have  not  only  dif- 
ferent characters  of  sensation,  and  different  effects  on 
muscular  irritability,  as  recognized  by  all  who  have 
carefully  scrutinized  in  regard  to  these  varied  electrical 
phenomena,  but  also  one  quality  even  when  so  weak  in 
power  as  not  to  produce  any  pain,  but  rather  a  pleasant 
sensation. 

"It  must  not  seem  strange  to  find  electricity  pro- 
duced in  many  different  qualities  to  have  varied  effects. 
There  are,  indeed,  other  facts  recognized  as  true,  and 
which  might  seem  stranger  still;  for  it  is  well  known  to 
all  chemists  that  the  same  proportion  and  kind  of  atoms 
may  form  substances  so  different  in  their  nature  as  to 
be  recognized  as  entirely  different  substances.  For 
example,  spirits  of  turpentine  and  oil  of  bergamot  are 
identical  in  composition,  being  composed  often  atoms 
of  carbon  and  eight  of  hydrogen,  and  the  difference  is 
recognized  as  merely  that  of  the  arrangement  of  the 
atoms.  Also  light  is  recognized  as  the  effect  of  vibra- 
tions of  wave  motions  in  the  ether,  which  is  every- 


88  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

where ;  and  the  different  colors  result  from  the  differ- 
ent lengths  of  these  waves.  (See  Prof.  Draper's  '  Chem- 
istry,' and  other  scientific  text-books.)  And  yet,  even 
the  difference  in  the  character  of  the  vibrations  or  wave 
lengths  of  the  ether  gives  a  difference  in  their  chemical 
effects;  for,  indeed,  it  is  known  to  be  chiefly  the  yellow 
ray  which  causes  the  absorption  of  the  carbon  from  the 
carbonic  acid  gas  in  the  atmosphere  into  the  solid  form 
of  a  tree,  by  the  influence  of  the  sunlight  falling  upon 
its  leaves.  And  it  is  the  indigo  ray  which  is  chiefly 
concerned  in  causing  hydrogen  and  chlorine  to  unite 
by  passing  light  through  a  glass  vessel  containing  a 
mixture  of  the  two  gases. 

"Also,  sound  results  from  vibrations  in  the  atmos- 
phere or  other  media.  Yet  sounds  may  have  differences 
in  pitch,  and  also  differences  in  qualities  of  tones 
having  the  same  pitch.  Its  effects  are  what  the  spirit 
of  man  receives  as  jarring  discord  or  sweet  harmonies, 
and  successions  and  qualities  of  tones,  that  inspire  the 
emotions  of  courage  and  hope,  or  produce  solemn  and 
mournful  feelings. 

"  Considering  the  fact  that  mere  variations  or  modi- 
fications in  vibratory  or  wave  motions  produce  dif- 
ferences in  effects,  we  should  not  think  it  strange,  but 
should  rather  expect  that  the  magnetic  influence  which 
excites  the  electricity  in  metallic  helices  would  produce 
currents  modified  in  qualities,  by  varying  the  physical 
condition  of  those  helices ;  for  by  varying  the  helices 
we  vary  the  medium  of  vibratory  or  wave  motions 
resulting  from  polarizations,  whose  phenomenon  is 
electricity." 

These  statements,  based  as  they  are  upon  scientific 


ELECTRICITY. 


89 


analogies,  are  quite  in  harmony  with  my  own  experi- 
ence, in  which,  during  many  past  years,  I  have  amply 
demonstrated  that  there  are  in  the  Combination  bat- 
teries the  fifteen  and  twenty-eight  different  currents  or 
qualities  of  current  which  I  claim,  and  that  these  vary- 
ing qualities  of  the  electric  force  are  particularly  effec- 
tive in  treating  different  kinds  of  disease.  We  often 
hear  the  expression  used,  "Electricity  is  electricity; 
and  although  we  may  increase  the  tension  or  quantity, 
there  can  be  no  difference  in  the  quality  of  the  force." 
Now,  it  is  precisely  on  this  point  that  I  take  issue  with 
the  vox  populi,  and  precisely  for  this  reason  that  I  have 
contended,  with  what  might  else  seem  to  be  such  ob- 
stinate tenacity,  for  the  use  of  properly  constructed 
batteries. 

That  which  we  must  all  admit  to  be  modifications  of 
the  force,  I  claim,  in  addition,  by  the  use  of  different 
metals  and  lengths  of  wire  in  the  helices,  to  evolve 
a  variety  in  the  quality:  "The  terms  quantity  and 
tension,  as  applied  to  electricity,  do  not  express  the 
real  distinction  in  the  qualities  of  electricity,  and 
that  's  one  reason  why  the  terms  are  so  generally 
misunderstood  when  thus  used.  The  term  intensity  is 
often  "misused  for  power,  but  the  difference  is  as  plain 
as  the  difference  between  loudness  and  pitch  in  regard 
to  sounds.  A  musical  string  conditioned  for  a  given 
pitch  does  not  change  that  pitch  by  a  greater  or  less  force 
of  the  blow  causing  it  to  vibrate;  it  simply  changes  its 
loudness.  And  in  regard  to  electricity,  the  magnetic 
force  upon  the  helix  determines  the  power  or  strength 
of  the  induced  current ;  but  the  intensity  or  tension, 
that  is,  quality,  is  determined,  not  by  the  amount  of 
8* 


9° 


ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 


magnetic  force  upon  the  helix,  but  by  the  physical  con. 
struction  of  the  helix  itself. ' ' 

It  is  to  be  lamented  that  the  study  of  electricity  does 
not  form  an  essential  feature  in  the  education  of  every 
medical  practitioner.  So  many  of  the  most  eminent 
members  of  the  faculty  are  now  using  it,  and  its  admis- 
sion to  the  hospital  is  becoming  so  general,  that  it  seems 
strange  and  anomalous  to  find  the  discovery  of  its  pow- 
ers and  possibilities  left  to  experimenters  rather  than 
taught  as  a  science.  During  my  long  years  of  practice 
in  New  York,  I  was  favored  with  the  patronage  of 
many  of  the  medical  faculty,  who  sent  such  patients  to 
me  as  they  deemed  likely  to  receive  benefit  from  my 
special  forms  of  treatment.  Let  us  hope  that  the  time 
is  not  far  distant  when  the  science  of  electrical  thera- 
peutics will  form  a  necessary  part  of  every  medical 
student's  education,  and  the  hap-hazard  administration 
of  this  great  and  potential  force,  as  potential  for  evil 
as  for  good,  will  thereby  be  taken  out  of  the  hands  of 
charlatans  and  mere  experimenters.  For  the  benefit  of 
those  who  desire  to  know  the  nature  of  the  machines 
which  I  have  found  so  successful,  I  insert  a  brief  de- 
scription and  plates  of  the  batteries  I  most  constantly 
use.  I  also  take  great  pleasure  in  recommending  the 
cautery  batteries  manufactured  by  Otto  Flemming  as 
admirably  adapted  for  surgical  purposes.  To  those 
experienced  in  electrical  treatments,  the  case  of  instru- 
ments manufactured  by  Otto  Flemming  for  my  use  will 
be  found  essential  and  specially  adapted  to  internal 
applications. 


THE    COMBINATION  BATTERIES.  gi 

ELIZABETH  J.  FRENCH'S  COMBINATION  BATTERY,  No. 
i,  has  five  differently  conditioned  coils  in  the  helices, 
arranged  to  use  in  various  connections,  producing 
fifteen  different  qualities  or  currents  of  electricity,  as 
follows:  A-B,  A-C,  A-D,  A-E,  A-F,  B-C,  B-D, 
B-E,  B-F,  C-D,  C-E,  C-F,  D-E,  D-F,  and  E-F. 


The  common  electrical  machines  are  made  on  the 
principle  of  simply  creating  power.  They  have  only 
two  helices  and  two  currents,  the  inner  helix  being 
always  a  necessity  for  producing  the  current  on  the 
outer  helix;  and  they  have  too  often  been  considered 
valuable  in  proportion  only  as  they  produced  pain. 

How  would  such  a  rule  apply  in  buying  a  musical 
instrument?  What  would  one  think  of  a  person 
who  selected  a  piano  solely  from  the  amount  of  pain 


92  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

its  noise  would  give  the  ear,  or  for  the  finish  of  the 
case?  Do  not  all  persons  carefully  regard  the  qual- 
ity of  the  music  it  is  capable  of  offering  to  the  human 
ear?  Also,  what  would  the  most  costly  piano  be 
worth  if  its  strings  were  not  tuned  in  accordance 
with  the  philosophy  of  the  octaves,  diapason,  and  dia- 
pente,  within  the  degrees  recognized  by  the  human 
ear?  How  important  it  is,  then,  that  an  electrical 
machine  for  remedial  uses  should  have  the  pitch  of 
its  currents  not  only  sufficiently  definite  and  varied, 
but  also  harmonized  to  meet  the  wants  of  the  vital  ner- 
vous system  when  used  for  the  treatment  of  disease. 


ELIZABETH  J.  FRENCH  s  COMBINATION  BATTERY, 
No.  2,  has  seven  differently  conditioned  coils  and 
combined  metals  in  the  helices,  arranged  to  produce 


THE   COMBINATION  BATTERIES. 


93 


twenty-eight  different  grades  of  electrical  currents,  as 
follows:  A-B,  A-C,  A-D,  A-E,  A-F,  A-G,  A-Ht 
B-C,  B-D,  B-E,  B-F,  B-G,  B-H,  C-D,  C-E,  C-F, 
C-G,  C-H,  D-E,  D-F,  D-G,  D-H,  E-F,  E-G, 
E-ff,  F-G,  F-H,  and  G-H. 

ELIZABETH  J.  FRENCH'S  COMBINATION  BATTERY,  No. 
3,  arranged  to  produce  twenty-eight  different  grades  of 
current,  but  much  more  complete  than  No.  2,  and 


provided,  besides,  with  the  rapid  vibrator,  with  Flem- 
ming's  slow  interrupting  rheotome,  and  commutator, 
or  pole-changer,  etc. 


94 


ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 


ELIZABETH  J.  FRENCH'S  COMBINATION  BATTERY,  No. 
4,  is  similar  to  No.  3,  but  has  her  latest  patent,  the 
SILVER  HELIX  in  addition. 

CARE    OF    THE    BATTERY. 

The  SOLUTION  for  the  batteries  consists  of  one  and  three-quarters 
(if)  ounces  bichromate  of  potassa,  three-quarters  (5)  of  an  ounce 
of  saltpetre  dissolved  in  twenty-seven  (27)  ounces  of  hot  water,  in 
an  earthenware  vessel.  When  cold,  add  three  (3)  fluidounces  com- 
mercial sulphuric  acid,  and  one-quarter  (i)  ounce  bisulphate  of 
mercury  (avoirdupois). 

In  filling  and  emptying  the  cell  do  not  remove  the  top  ;  as  doing 
so  gives  needless  trouble  and  renders  the  carbons  liable  to  be  broken. 
Use  the  central  aperture.  Do  not  fill  the  cell  above  the  lower  part 
of  the  curve  of  the  neck,  and  never  use  hot  or  warm  solution. 

CAUTION. — The  battery-fluid  will  eat  and  destroy  any  fabric  with 
which  it  comes  in  contact,  unless  immediately  sponged  out  with  pure 
water,  and  the  material  moistened  in  a  solution  of  aqua  ammonia, 
which  will  restore  the  color.  It  is  wise  to  keep  a  small  bottle  in  the 
case.  The  person  using  the  battery  should  avoid  breathing  the 
emanations  which  are  emitted  from  the  open  cup. 

TO    START    THE    BATTERY. 

Place  the  cell  in  its  receptacle,  immerse  the  zinc  plate  with  its 
connecting  clamp  through  the  aperture,  and  connect  the  clamp  and 
the  binding-post  of  the  carbons  on  the  left  with  the  two  binding-posts 
of  the  instrument  by  means  of  the  wires.  TfciS"  See  that  the  zinc  does 
not  touch  either  of  the  carbons  in  the  cell  by  tilting  to  one  side. -fSa^ 

The  immersed  surface  of  the  zinc  plate  may  be  increased  or 
diminished  by  changing  the  position  of  its  clamp  up  or  down,  thus 
increasing  or  diminishing  at  pleasure  the  QUANTITY  of  electricity 
evolved.  Before  the  lower  half  of  the  zinc  is  entirely  eaten  away, 
it  may  be  turned  in  the  clamp  and  the  other  half  immersed,  thus 
utilizing  the  whole  plate. 

When  removing  the  zinc  from  either  the  rubber  cup  or  the  battery- 
cell,  be  careful  that  no  mercury  or  fluid  drops  on  any  part  of  the 
apparatus  ;  the  acid  will  stain  the  wood  and  eat  off  the  nickel-plating 
a  id,  if  allowed  to  dry  under  or  around  the  hydrostat,  will  crystallize 


TO    USE  A   BATTERY. 


95 


and  prevent  its  being  fluid-tight.  Always  leave  the  cell  open  a  few 
minutes  after  using,  to  permit  the  escape  of  the  hydrogen  gas  gen- 
erated during  action.  This  gas  must  escape  in  some  way,  and  if  the 
hydrostat  be  screwed  down  immediately,  the  confined  gas  will  force 
its  way  up  between  the  carbons  and  the  brass  frame  to  which  they 
are  attached,  and  the  fluid  will  follow  by  capillary  attraction  through 
the  air-spaces  thus  made. 

To  prevent  irregular  working  of  the  battery  the  zinc  should  be 
kept  well  amalgamated, — i.e..  well  covered  with  mercury.  For  this 
purpose  some  bisulphate  of  mercury  is  added  to  the  solution,  which 
obviates  the  necessity  of  keeping  quicksilver  in  the  rubber  cup. 
Always  replace  the  zinc  in  the  rubber  cup  after  using  the  battery. 

If  the  trembler,  or  interrupter,  should  not  start  itself,  a  slight  touch 
of  the  finger  will  set  it  in  motion.  If  the  battery  stops  during  applica- 
tion, it  may  be  started  again  by  shaking  the  zinc  to  remove  the  hy- 
drogen gas  from  the  surface  of  the  negative  plates,  when  that  causes 
the  stoppage. 

The  rubber  on  the  hydrostat  may  be  turned  around  occasionally  in 
order  to  present  a  new  and  closer  surface  to  the  edges  of  the  aperture. 
In  replacing  a  broken  carbon  with  a  new  one,  use  sealing-wax  to 
make  the  aperture  fluid-tight. 

When  the  battery-fluid  grows  weaker  with  use,  or  becomes  de- 
composed (of  a  greenish-black  color),  it  should  be  renewed.  Also, 
when  the  current  becomes  very  weak  it  is  usually  an  indication  that 
the  fluid  needs  to  be  renewed,  or  the  zinc  reamalgamated. 

The  greatest  ca"re  should  be  exercised  to  keep  the  battery  as  clean 
as  possible,  in  order  to  insure  its  perfect  working.  The  metallic  parts 
especially  should  be  kept  scrupulously  free  from  all  dust,  dirt,  and 
oxidation. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

ELECTRICAL   TREATMENTS. 

I  CANNOT,  of  course,  present  in  this  volume  anything 
beyond  a  few  general  directions  for  the  treatment  of 
such  diseases  as  would,  under  ordinary  circumstances, 
be  ranged  in  the  category  of  domestic  practice.  In 
fevers,  tumors,  cancers,  complicated  forms  of  disease, 
fractures,  or  surgical  cases,  the  experience  of  the  skil- 
ful practitioner  is  demanded  ;  and  though  this  book  is 
written  for  the  express  purpose  of  extending  the  hid- 
den mysteries  of  physiological  art  from  the  college  to 
the  home,  in  the  present  imperfect  and  experimental 
understanding  of  electricity  I  should  not  feel  justified 
in  furnishing  an  excuse  for  unscrupulous  pretenders  to 
tamper  with  my  system  in  highly  momentous  cases. 

I  have  already  sketched  out  my  views  concerning 
the  urgent  necessity  of  applying  electricity,  as  a  reme- 
dial agent  for  disease,  with  the  utmost  caution,  and  all 
the  scientific  acumen  we  can  command  in  our  present 
rudimental  knowledge  of  the  art. 

Treatments  should  invariably  be  preceded  by  an 
electrical  Cranial  Diagnosis,  because  I  find  the  fallacy 
of  accepting  the  symptoms  described  by  patients  as  a 
reliable  indication  of  their  states.  This  diagnosis  dis- 
covers conditions  which  symptoms  do  not  reveal ;  and 
with  it  I  am  confident  of  penetrating  the  causes  as  well 
as  the  effects. 

DIFFERENCE    IN    ELECTRICAL    CURRENTS. 

Each  of  the  twenty-eight  currents  of  the  combina- 
tion battery  has  a  different  physiological  effect,  which 
96 


SPECIFIC   TREATMENTS. 


97 


the  experience  of  every-day  practice  has  demonstrated, 
and  in  many  of  which  differences  are  easily  distin- 
guished by  the  senses.  The  eight  posts  are  marked 
from  left  to  right  alphabetically, — A,  B,  C,  D,  Et  F, 
G,  H.  Of  these  the  first  four  are  connected  with  the 
copper  wires  of  the  helices,  E  and  F  with  the  iron 
wires,  G  and  H  with  the  brass  wire.  It  is  claimed 
that  different  and  better  results  can  be  obtained  in 
practice  from  this  variety  of  currents  than  by  the  ordi- 
nary methods.  Some  of  the  leading  properties  of  these 
currents  may  be  enumerated  as  follows  : 

A-B,  magnetic-anodyne  and  soothing  current. 

A-C,  nerve-current,  sedative,  anaesthetic  current, — 
for  nervousness,  pain,  soreness,  paralysis,  etc. 

A-D,  muscle-current,  forcing,  eliminating,  or  run- 
ning-off  current, — used  always  in  the  vapor-bath,  also 
to  complete  many  treatments. 

A-E,  shock, — applied  where  there  is  insensibility 
to  other  currents,  in  cases  of  fainting,  spasms,  or 
convulsions. 

A-F,  emollient  current, — applicable  to  mucous 
membranes  and  tissues,  especially  beneficial  in  affec- 
tions of  the  throat. 

A-G,  alterative  current,  also  tissue-tonic,— used  in 
dropsical  and  anaemic  conditions. 

A-H,  arterial  stimulant  and  circulatory  current, — 
arousing  from  inertia  and  relieving  the  apoplectic 
tendency. 

B-C,  blood-current,  and  ordinary  styptic,  when  re- 
versed ;  acts  on  the  sanguified  functions, — used  for 
humoral  taints,  etc. 

B-D,   febrifuge,    breaking-up,   anti-congestive   cur- 


98  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

rent, — having  a  special  affinity  for  the  general  tissue 
framework,  ligamentous  tissues,  etc. 

B-E,  main  styptic  current,  when  reversed,  anti- 
phlogistic,— used  direct. 

B-F,  astringent  current, — especially  adapted  to  the 
destruction  of  the  virulence  of  cancers  and  extirpation 
of  tumors. 

B-G,  powerful  antiphlogistic  current, — used  in  con- 
nection with  B-E  and  D-G  currents. 

B-ff,  diaphoretic  current, — used  to  relieve  high 
internal  inflammation,  by  inducing  perspiration  and 
carrying  it  off  through  the  pores  of  the  skin. 

C-D,  permeating  current, — its  use  is  indicated  for 
internal  purulent  accumulations,  in  connection  with 
B-D  and  C-G  currents. 

C-E,  absorbent  current,  including  lymphatics  and 
lacteals ;  warming  current,  in  coldness  of  surface  and 
substance  without  chilliness. 

C-F,  cerebral  stimulant  current,  arousing  from  be- 
numbed life  into  action, — used  in  comatose  conditions. 

C-G,  penetrating  anti-congestive  current, — used  in 
connection  with  B-D  and  C-D  currents,  for  fevers, 
tumors,  and  sprains. 

C-If,  disintegrating  current, — applicable  to  cancers, 
tumors,  and  all  morbid  growths. 

D-E,  warming  and  digestive  current, — used  in  con- 
nection with  D-G  current,  for  indigestion,  ague,  etc. 

D-F,  excito-motor  stimulant  current, — for  paraly- 
sis, also  tumors. 

D-G,  liver-tonic  current, — used  for  morbid  liver, 
indigestion,  dyspepsia,  ague,  etc.,  in  connection  with 
B-D  and  D-E  currents. 

D-H,  powerful  general  tonic  current. 


SPECIFIC   TREATMENTS. 


99 


E-F,  eye  and  ear  nerve-tonic  current, — used  for 
defective  vision,  deafness,  catarrh,  etc. 

E-G,  nerve-stimulant  current, — used  in  depletion 
from  overwork  or  anxiety,  hysteria,  sensory  paraly- 
sis, etc. 

J5-J7,  antispasmodic  current, — used  for  chorea, 
nervous  chill,  etc. 

F-G,  mild  general  tonic  current, — used  to  com- 
mence the  building  up  of  the  system  after  continued  fe- 
vers, long  illnesses,  the  removal  of  cancers,  tumors,  etc. 

F-ff,  paretic,  nutritive  current, — its  use  is  indicated 
in  all  inactive,  paralyzed  parts,  from  debility. 

G—H,  antiseptic  current, — used  for  suppuration  and 
ulceration,  external  and  internal,  also  in  cutaneous 
affections. 

The  recently-patented  SILVER  HELIX  (producing  an 
electric  current  through  a  silver  wire)  is  contained  only 
in  the  author's  No.  4  Battery,  and  invariably  benefits 
special  nervous  disorders,  such  as  rheumatism,  neuralgia, 
etc.,  and  its  use  is  indicated  in  all  cases  where  a  calma- 
tive is  necessary  to  control  pain.  It  will  be  found  espe- 
cially useful  to  the  practitioner  in  the  disintegration 
of  tumors  and  in  paralysis. 

MANIPULATIONS — PARTICULAR   MALADIES. 

Treatments  are  to  be  repeated  as  needed  :  acute  cases 
every  half  to  three  hours  until  better ;  chronic  cases, 
at  first  daily  or  oftener, — afterwards  less  often. 

It  is  a  mistake,  sometimes  made,  to  suppose  that 
either  pole  may  be  applied  indifferently  to  a  diseased 
part,  or  that  the  direction  of  the  current  is  of  no  con- 
sequence, or  that  the  variety  of  currents  here  insisted 


100  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

on  is  unreal,  or  is  a  mere  difference  of  strength ;  the 
selection  of  the  current  is  of  PRIME  IMPORTANCE. 

It  is  only  necessary  to  add,  as  a  general  rule,  that 
the  positive  pole,  whether  in  a  sponge,  plate,  or 
electrode,  should  be  always  above  the  negative  in 
point  of  position  on  the  body.  A  descending  current 
is  thus  obtained,  and  this  may  be  regarded  as  the 
normal  action  of  the  currents  in  imitation  of  the 
nervous  flow  determined  by  the  brain,  the  highest  por- 
tion of  the  structure.  There  are  many  cases,  as  in 
paralysis,  hemorrhage,  the  dispersion  of  tumors,  the 
contraction  of  the  cords,  etc.,  where  a  reverse  current  is 
necessary,  and  the  positive  pole  should  be  placed  below, 
the  negative  above,  in  position  on  the  body  ;  but  this 
treatment  should  never  be  attempted  indiscriminately, 
nor  without  special  instructions  from  an  attending 
physician,  or  some  competent  person  directing  the 
application.  With  the  same  urgency  I  would  enforce 
a  charge  never  to  apply  the  fluid  over  the  surfaces  of 
the  lungs,  whether  back  or  front  of  the  body,  nor  yet 
to  the  head,  except  as  directed,  to  the  base  of  the 
brain,  or  in  making  the  cranial  diagnosis;  an  act  which 
of  course  depends  on  the  skill,  care,  and  experience  of 
a  person  instructed  in  my  own  method,  when  the  appli- 
cations will  be  made  with  such  precautions  as  will  in- 
sure the  subject  from  all  danger. 

Various  electrodes  (flat  appliances  made  of  three 
metals  so  combined  as  to  produce  in  themselves  a 
silent  electric  current)  may  be  used  as  the  cases  re- 
quire. About  eight  of  different  dimensions  being 
necessary.  These  the  operator  attaches,  by  means  of 
the  small  groove  on  the  under  side,  to  one  end  of  each 


SPECIFIC   TREATMENTS.  101 

conducting  cord ;  the  other  ends  are  inserted  in  the 
posts  of  the  battery.  Two  electrodes  of  some  descrip- 
tion must  be  used,  as  it  is  necessary  the  circuit  should 
be  closed  between  the  positive  and  negative  poles  be- 
fore the  electric  current  from  the  battery  flows.  These 
electrodes  should  ALWAYS  be  covered  with  heavy  linen 
towelling  bags  or  cases,  thoroughly  wet  with  warm 
water  on  the  side  to  be  placed  next  the  patient. 

GENERAL   TREATMENT. 

No.  5  electrode  from  base  of  brain  down  the  spine 
in  A,  No.  8  electrode  on  the  abdomen,  short  point  down 
in  Z>,  fifteen  minutes.  Change  to  No.  6  electrode 
across  the  lower  part  of  back  in  A,  No.  7  electrode 
under  the  feet  in  H,  fifteen  minutes. 

NARCOTIC   POISONING. 

Administer  an  emetic.  Place  No.  4  electrode  di- 
rectly on  pit  of  stomach  in  A,  No.  5  electrode  below 
the  lungs,  on  the  spine  in  D,  vibrating  the  cylinder 
until  vomiting  is  induced.  Then  place  an  electrode 
at  lower  end  of  spine  ip  C,  and  one  between  the  hands 
in  A,  five  minutes. 

If  symptoms  of  sinking  or  faintness  occur,  place  A 
at  base  of  brain  and  E  a.\.  feet,  and  prevent  the  patient 
sleeping. 

MORBID    LIVER. 

First.  No.  6  electrode  across  the  lower  part  of  back 
in  2?,  No.  8  electrode,  covering  liver  and  spleen  in  D, 
long  point  over  the  stomach,  twenty  minutes. 

Second.  No.  6  electrode  around  the  right  side,  just 
above  the  hip,  in  Z>,  No.  5  r jectrode  between  the  kid- 
neys in  G,  ten  or  fifteen  minutes.  The  current  from 
9* 


102  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

the  SILVER  HELIX  may  also  be  administered  in  this  way  ; 
then  to  relieve  any  soreness  which  would  naturally  re- 
sult from  this,  change  to  A-C  current. 

HEADACHE — NERVOUS,   GASTRIC,   ETC. 

Place  No.  2  electrode  at  the  base  of  brain  in  A, 
round  electrode  between  the  hands  in  C,  ten  to  fifteen 
minutes.  Treatments  may  be  taken  hourly. 

Temporary  relief  from  headache.  The  round  elec- 
trode in  A  held  in  each  hand  alternately.  Holding 
the  sponge-cup  in  the  disengaged  hand  at  the  base  of 
brain  in  C  or  D  as  can  be  borne,  stroke  slowly  from 
three  to  five  minutes  up  the  back  of  the  neck,  on  either 
side  or  centre,  the  hair  at  the  base  of  brain  being  thor- 
oughly wet.  The  treatment  may  be  administered  by 
an  operator,  the  patient  holding  the  round  electrode 
between  the  palms  of  the  hands. 

NEURALGIA    OR    TOOTHACHE. 

No.  i  electrode  at  base  of  brain  in  C,  the  sponge- 
cup  stroked  backward  or  downward  over  the  face  in  E, 
or  the  current  maybe  given  through  the  operator,  using 
the  hand  instead  of  sponge-cup.  If  no  better  in  five 
minutes,  change  C  to  A,  and  E  to  C,  for  five  minutes. 
Applications  may  be  made  at  intervals  of  half  an  hour. 

MEASLES. 

When  the  first  symptoms,  watery  eyes,  rasping  cough, 
and  fever,  appear,  regulate  the  temperature  of  the  pa- 
tient's room  to  about  seventy-five  degrees,  avoiding 
draughts. 

Place  No.  i  electrode  at  base  of  brain  in  B,  and  No. 
5  electrode  on  the  lower  ;rart  of  spine  in  C,  fifteen  min- 
utes ;  then  place  No.  i  electrode  on  throat  in  A,  and 


SPECIFIC    TREATMENTS. 


103 


No.  6  electrode  under  feet  in  C,  strong  enough  to  be 
felt  by  patient,  fifteen  minutes.  Repeat  this  treatment 
three  times  daily.  Alternate  with  B-D  and  C-E  in 
the  same  manner. 

SORE   THROAT — DIPHTHERIA. 

Sponge-cup  or  No.  i  electrode  base  of  brain  in  B, 
No.  2  electrode  front  of  throat  in  Cor  D.  In  violent 
attacks,  use  A  instead  of  B,  and  increase  length  of  ap- 
plication from  twenty  minutes  to  one  hour.  Administer 
frequently. 

RHEUMATISM. 

First.  (Of  upper  extremities.)  The  cylinder-elec- 
trode in  a  basin  of  water,  the  hands  immersed,  or  No. 
7  electrodes  under  the  hands,  in  D.  Sponge-cup 
stroked  downward  over  affected  region  in  B,  twenty 
minutes. 

Second.  (Of  the  Spine.)  Place  a  sponge  containing 
electrode  at  the  coccyx,  or  held  for  the  upper  spine  in 
the  hands  in  D ;  No.  5  electrode  on  the  spine,  extending 
over  the  affected  region  in  B ;  or,  if  necessary,  use  the 
sponge-cup,  moving  from  above  downwards  repeatedly, 
fifteen  to  twenty  minutes. 

Third.  (Of  the  lower  extremities.)  No.  4  electrode 
across  small  of  back  in  B,  and  No.  7  electrode  under 
feet  in  Z>,  for  twenty-five  minutes ;  then  change  to 
A-C Tor  ten  minutes;  also  use  D-F,  or E-G currents, 
for  this  affection. 

NUMBNESS   AND    HEAVINESS   OF   THE   LEGS. 

No.  6  electrode  over  one  hip,  then  the  other,  ten 
minutes  each  in  B.  No.  7  electrode  under  the  feet  in 
D,  twenty  minutes.  Also  use  D-F\\\  the  same  manner. 


104  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

LARYNGITIS   AND    CROUP. 

First.  Sponge-cup  upon  larynx  in  B,  No.  4  electrode 
across  the  lower  part  of  back  in  D,  strong,  fifteen  min- 
utes, eight  or  ten  times  daily  when  the  case  is  severe. 
Gargle  the  throat  with  a  weak  solution  of  bichromate 
of  potassium  two  or  three  times  a  day. 

Second.  No.  i  electrode  base  of  brain  in  A,  B,  or  C, 
as  can  be  borne,  No.  4  electrode  across  the  stomach  in 
D,  ten  minutes.  Change  No.  2  electrode  to  the  front 
of  throat  in  B,  No.  6  electrode  across  the  lower  part 
of  back,  or  to  the  feet  in  D,  ten  minutes.  Use  C-E 
current  in  the  same  manner. 

WHOOPING-COUGH. 

No.  i  electrode  base  of  brain  in  A,  No.  4  electrode 
across  the  stomach  in  C,  fifteen  minutes;  then  change 
No.  i  to  throat  in  B,  No.  4  or  6  across  the  liver, 
stomach,  and  spleen  in  D,  ten  minutes.  Repeat. 

INFLUENZA — COLD    IN   THE   HEAD. 

First.  No.  i  electrode  base  of  brain  in  A,  No.  4  elec- 
trode across  stomach  in  C,  ten  minutes. 

Second.  No.  5  electrode  from  base  of  brain,  on  the 
spine,  downward  in  B,  No.  6  electrode  across  the 
liver,  stomach,  and  spleen  in  D,  fifteen  minutes. 

Third.  No.  i  electrode  on  the  throat  in  C,  No.  2 
electrode  back  of  neck  in  E,  ten  minutes. 

BLEEDING    OF    THE    NOSE. 

The  round  electrode  or  sponge-cup  between  the  hands 
in  A,  No.  i  electrode  at  the  base  of  brain  in  C.  If 
not  relieved  in  five  minutes  change  to  E—F  current, 
holding  the  hands  over  the  head. 


SPECIFIC   TREATMENTS.  Ic>5 

SLEEPLESSNESS. 

For  sleeplessness,  the  electric  vapor-bath  will  prove 
most  efficacious,  or  lacking  this,  when  organic  affec- 
tions are  not  the  manifest  cause,  use  the  following 
treatment :  No.  5  electrode  from  base  of  brain  down- 
ward on  the  spine  in  B,  No.  6  electrode  under  the 
knees,  or  across  loins  below  kidneys,  in  E,  fifteen 
minutes.  A  more  simple  method  is  from  the  base  of 
brain  in  A,  to  the  hands  in  C,  fifteen  minutes. 

BURNS,    BRUISES,    SPRAINS,    CUTS,    AND    GATHERINGS. 

Place  No.  3  or  5  electrode  above  the  affected  part 
in  J3,  the  sponge-cup  stroked  downward  over  the  part 
in  Z>,  fifteen  minutes.  Repeat  as  needed,  using  C-D 
and  A-D  currents  also.  If  it  is  possible  to  place  the 
affected  part  in  a  basin  of  water  with  the  negative,  do 
so;  if  not,  a  very  wet  sponge  will  answer. 

CONSTIPATION. 

First.  Place  the  cylinder-electrode  enclosed  in  a 
wet  sponge  at  the  anus  in  D,  the  sponge-cup,  in  B, 
used  to  manipulate  the  bowels  with  a  kneading  motion 
systematically  along  the  course  of  the  large  bowel  from 
the  right  groin  upward  across  the  abdomen  and  down 
to  the  left  groin,  twenty  minutes  ;  alternate  with  A-D, 
No.  6  electrode  over  the  bowels  in  A,  D  as  directed 
before,  twenty  minutes. 

Second.  The  spatula-electrode  on  the  tongue  in  A, 
the  cylinder-electrode  enclosed  in  a  sponge  at  the  anus 
in  D,  ten  minutes. 

DIARRHCEA   AND    DYSENTERY. 

First.  No.  8  electrodes  on  the  abdomen  in  2),  No. 


106  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

3  or  4  electrode  on   the  lower  part  of  spine  in  B, 
fifteen  to  thirty  minutes. 

Second.  No.  5  electrode  on  the  lower  part  of  spine 
in  A,  No.  6  electrode  from  the  groin  upward  on  one 
side  of  the  abdomen  in  G,  ten  minutes,  then  on  the 
other  side  ten  minutes  longer. 

COLIC   OR   CRAMPS    IN   THE   STOMACH. 

Apply  hot  compress  over  the  abdomen,  on  which 
place  No.  7  electrode  in  D,  No.  8  electrode  on  the 
back,  long  point  between  the  kidneys  in  J3,  ten  to 
thirty  minutes  or  more,  very  strong. 

PILES — HEMORRHOIDS. 

The  cylinder-electrode  enclosed  in  a  wet  sponge  at 
the  anus  in  A,  No.  4  electrode  across  the  lower  part  of 
back  in  D,  twenty  minutes ;  alternate  with  D-F. 

In  the  few  directions  given  above  I  have  furnished 
a  plan  of  treatment  which,  with  judgment  and  care, 
may  be  used  in  every  family  where  the  aid  of  a  good 
electrical  practitioner  cannot  be  obtained.  I  have 
mentioned  only  such  simple  cases  as  may  be  of  most 
frequent  occurrence,  and  such  as  can  be  treated  with 
safety  and  effect.  It  is  needless  to  reiterate  my  deep 
conviction  of  the  necessity  for  all  persons  of  mature 
years  becoming  acquainted  with  their  own  structures 
and  the  general  principles  of  electrical  applications. 

In  chronic  cases,  whether  of  tumors,  cancers, 
fevers,  internal  or  external  injuries,  in  fact,  as  before 
stated,  in  all  serious  and  complicated  conditions  of 
disease,  no  general  directions  will  apply,  and  nothing 
short  of  long  experience  and  scientific  skill  will 


SPECIFIC   TREATMENTS.  107 

justify  the  use  of  the  battery.  Again,  there  are 
many  diseases  and  weaknesses  incidental  to  the  female 
organism  for  which  general  directions  cannot  safely  be 
given,  and  in  the  treatment  of  which  special  and  most 
careful  methods  should  be  used.  A  reference  to  the  few 
cases  which  the  limitations  of  this  volume  will  permit 
me  to  introduce,  will  show  what  fearful  and  compli- 
cated diseases  in  the  female  organism  can  be  cured  by 
electricity.  Chronic  conditions,  internal  tumors,  dis- 
placements, cancerous  and  fibrous  growths,  and  states 
of  suffering  which  have  baffled  all  other  forms  of  treat- 
ment, have  yielded  rapidly,  surely,  without  pain  or 
exposure,  to  the  action  of  electricity  scientifically 
applied.  Some  of  my  records  in  this  volume,  and 
others  withheld  from  lack  of  space,  are  startling  in 
their  minutiae  of  suffering,  hopeless  agony,  and  the 
triumphs  wrought  by  the  marvelous  action  of  elec- 
tricity. The  number  of  respectable  names  which  I 
am  permitted  to  cite  in  evidence  of  the  truth  of  these 
narratives,  but,  above  all,  the  living  testimony  of  the 
multitudes  who  have  passed  from  my  operating-rooms 
made  whole,  when  all  hope  had  failed,  and  the  fresh 
-cases  which  every  day's  experience  presents,  justify  me 
in  making  the  broadest  claims  for  my  system,  and 
insisting  that  it  can  master  every  form  of  disease  that 
is  curable. 

I  am  now  about  to  close  my  treatise  on  disease  by 
prescribing  a  remedy  for  one  of  the  most  baneful,  and, 
as  it  has  hitherto  appeared,  one  of  the  most  hopeless 
conditions  in  which  humanity  can  be  plunged :  I  refer 
to  the  taste  for  intoxicating  liquors. 

Intemperance  may  arise  from  the  evil  influence  of 


Ib8  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

loose  associations ;  the  baneful  practice  of  taking 
stimulating  liquors  at  social  gatherings,  or  in  what  has 
been  most  erroneously  called  "good-fellowship."  It 
may  be  the  result  of  inherited  tendencies,  or  the  fatal 
desire  to  drown  care,  grief,  disappointment,  or  any 
kind  of  physical  or  mental  pain,  in  the  fever  of  unnat- 
ural excitement;  but  from  whatever  cause  it  may  arise, 
at  the  point  where  it  masters  the  reason  and  becomes  a 
habit  it  is  also  a  disease,  and  either  in  the  shape  of  an 
unconquerable  yearning  for  excitement,  or  a  wretched 
sense  of  morbid  depletion,  forces  its  miserable  victim 
on  the  downward  course,  into  the  frenzy  of  delirium 
tremens,  and  the  final  degradation  of  a  drunkard's 
grave.  In  whatever  stage  we  find  the  man  or  woman 
in  whom  the  passion  for  drink  has  grown  to  be  a  habit, 
we  shall  invariably  realize  that  the  stomach  is  either 
in  a  condition  of  inflammatory  fever  or  partial  paraly- 
sis. In  these  alternating  states  of  misery,  the  digestive 
apparatus  offers  a  fresh  stimulus  to  urge  the  unhappy 
inebriate  on  his  course  of  destruction.  To  him  it 
seems  that  he  must  drink  or  die.  In  this  deplorable 
condition  of  the  organism  the  reader  will  recall  my 
theory  of  disease  and  cure,  and  ask  whether  any  other 
remedial  agent  but  the  great  motor,  which  is  itself  the 
life,  can  restore  the  lost  equilibrium,  reduce  the  in- 
flammation, and  quicken  the  paralyzed  muscles  into 
fresh  action.  What  else,  indeed,  can  neutralize  the 
poisonous  canker  of  the  mucous  membrane,  and  restore 
the  healthful  flow  of  the  life  currents  when  they  have 
been  forced  into  unnatural  channels? 

Whether  there  is  any  other  cure  for  this  worst  form  of 
physical  and  mental  degradation,  I  am  unable  to  affirm; 


SPECIFIC   TREATMENTS.  JO9 

but  this  I  do  know:  that  having  been  all  my  life  in- 
terested in  the  temperance  cause,  I  have  never  known 
my  method  to  fail  in  effecting  a  cure. 

That  similarly  good  results  may  flow  out  of  every  sin- 
cere attempt  to  substitute  health  and  blessing  for  dis- 
ease and  cursing,  and  the  pure  lightnings  of  nature  for 
the  impure  fires  of  alcohol,  is  the  aspiration  with  which 
I  now  make  known  my  remedy  to  the  world. 


INTEMPERANCE. 

In  whatever  state  the  man  or  woman  is  in  whom  the 
passion  for  drink  has  grown  to  be  a  habit,  invariably 
the  stomach  is  either  in  a  condition  of  inflammatory 
fever  or  partial  paralysis.  In  these  attending  states  of 
misery  the  alimentary  canal,  covered  with  poisonous 
canker,  offers  continually  renewed  promptings  to  drink. 
In  the  author's  experience  with  such  cases  the  following 
treatment  has  proved  almost  infallible  : 

Place  No.  4  electrode  vertically  over  stomach  in  B, 
the  sponge-cup  pressed  against  base  of  brain  in  D,  ten 
to  fifteen  minutes,  strong  as  can  be  borne  ;  change  from 
base  of  brain  to  between  the  hands  five  minutes,  not 
too  strong,  alternate,  using  E  for  B,  and  H  for  D,  elec- 
trodes to  be  placed  as  above.  Let  the  patient  eat  dry 
cracker  during  treatment,  and  carry  crackers  to  eat 
whenever  thirsty.  At  meals  drink  little  or  no  water, 
but  take  a  cup  of  strong  coffee,  sweetened  to  taste,  but 
without  milk.  Eat  bread  toasted  very  brown,  and  ab- 
stain from  every  stimulant  but  coffee.  Continue  treat- 
ments twice  a  day  for  a  week,  or  until  strength  is  felt  in 
the  personal  resistance,  then  less  frequently  until  cured. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

HYGIENE. 
PART  I.-  GYMNASTICS — THEIR  USE  AND  ABUSE. 

THE  plea  which  I  have  so  often  urged  for  the  ob- 
servance of  hygienic  practices  cannot  be  too  earnestly 
insisted  on  by  those  who  love  their  kind,  and  would 
disinterestedly  save  them  from  the  long  and  dismal 
catalogue  of  diseases  for  which  the  physician's  art  has 
become  so  fatally  indispensable.  If  we  were  writing  a 
book"  in  the  interests  of  the  medical  profession,  we 
could  act  no  better  part  towards  our  clients  than  to 
put  the  world  upon  just  such  methods  of  life-practice, 
diet  and  clothing,  as  conform  most  closely  to  the  cus- 
toms of  modern  fashion,  such  as  late  hours,  crowded 
assemblies,  apartments  lighted  by  gas  and  overheated 
by  crowds,  ill-ventilated  dwellings,  tight  lacing,  heavy 
skirts,  bare  arms  and  necks,  unnatural  weights  imposed 
upon  the  aching  head  by  chignons  ;  stimulating  drinks, 
and  ill-cooked  meats.  Civilization  is  often  charged 
with  the  onus  of  originating  diseases  which  never  ap- 
pear in  the  primitive  conditions  of  savageism  ;  but  we 
may  assure  ourselves  it  is  through  the  abuses  of  civiliza- 
tion, not  in  its  uses,  that  the  human  organism  becomes 
deteriorated ;  also,  that  the  careful  observance  of  hygienic 
no 


HYGIENE.  1 1 1 

laws  would  be  amply  sufficient  to  maintain  the  race  in 
the  finest  conditions  of  physical  health,  at  the  same 
time  that  civilization  was  working  its  highest  refining 
processes  upon  the  intellect  and  manners. 

Let  us  commence  our  reformatory  methods  of  living, 
then,  by  a  careful  study  of  hygienic  laws, — remembering 
always  that  the  time  we  allow  to  the  preservation  of 
health  we  shall  more  than  regain  in  the  increased 
amount  of  strength  and  vital  energy  with  which  we 
shall  be  enabled  to  fulfil  whatever  life-duties  belong 
to  us. 

One  of  the  most  essential  methods  of  preserving 
equilibrium  in  the  circulatory  system  is  the  occasional 
performance  of  such  movements  as  will  bring  the  whole 
of  the  nervous  and  muscular  apparatuses  into  play. 

Even  in  ancient  times,  when  there  was  no  such  ex- 
cessive demand  upon  men's  brains  as  our  present  high- 
strained  civilization  imposes,  gymnastic  exercises  were 
considered  a  healthful  and  necessary  concomitant  of 
educational  systems,  and  their  practice  was  enjoined 
upon  the  male  population  of  Greece  and  Rome  as  a 
means  of  maintaining  sound  health  and  mental  equi- 
librium. 

In  this  age,  when  physiological  science  has  taken 
such  a  deep  hold  upon  the  popular  mind,  it  would  be 
superfluous  to  dwell  upon  the  necessity  of  engrafting 
physical  culture  upon  our  educational  systems;  and  yet 
men  and  women  of  high  intelligence,  fully  informed 
of  the  physiological  results  accruing  from  excessive 
mental  action,  and  the  imperative  demand  for  some 
compensative  system  of  physical  culture,  continue  to 
preach  physiology,  but  to  neglect  one  of  its  most  im- 


112  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

portant  items,  and  too  often  stimulate  the  intellect  to 
the  very  verge  of  insanity,  and  wholly  neglect  the  ob- 
servance of  those  exercises  that  would  act  as  a  safety- 
valve  for  the  excessive  tension  of  the  brain  and 
nerves. 

Walking  in  the  open  air  is  of  course  a  healthful  and 
invigorating  exercise,  and  should  be  practiced  both  by 
young  and  old ;  but  the  act  of  walking,  only  sets  the 
lower  extremities  in  motion,  and,  as  they  have  to  carry 
the  whole  weight  of  the  body,  the  consequent  fatigue 
of  this  process  in  many  instances  counterbalances  the 
good  which  would  otherwise  be  effected. 

As  to  dancing,  although  it  calls  into  play  a  larger 
proportion  of  nerves  and  muscles  than  walking,  its 
hygienic  results  are  so  often  counteracted  by  the  ad- 
juncts, which  fashion  necessitates,  in  the  shape  of  crowded 
ill-ventilated  ball-rooms  and  the  pernicious  custom  of 
undressing,  instead  of  dressing,  for  the  dance,  that  the 
motions  which  favor  health  are  more  than  neutralized 
by  the  evils  attendant  on  their  performance. 

Plato  informs  us  that  gymnastic  exercises  were  uni- 
versally practiced  about  the  time  of  Hippocrates,  as  a 
part  of  medical  treatment;  also  that  they  were  pre- 
scribed by  the  laws  of  the  various  states  of  Greece,  as 
a  means  of  counteracting  the  tendency  to  effeminacy 
which  rapidly  grew  upon  such  nations  as  were  rich  and 
luxurious  in  their  habits.  Public  buildings  were  erected 
at  the  expense  of  the  government  in  many  of  the  Gre- 
cian states  for  the  practice  of  gymnastics.  The  first  of 
these  was  built  at  Lacedoemon,  and  several  of  a  still 
more  magnificent  character  were  erected  at  Athens  and 
Rome. 


HYGIENE.  113 

The  Romans,  whose  gymnasia  were  more  splendid 
and  commodious  than  those  of  any  other  people,  intro- 
duced the  custom  of  erecting  baths  in  connection  with 
their  halls  for  exercise ;  and  this  desirable  addendum 
was  subsequently  adopted  in  other  countries  and  all 
the  buildings  devoted  to  physical  culture. 

The  exercises  of  the  classic  gymnasia  included  wres- 
tling, boxing,  running,  dancing,  the  enactment  of  pan- 
tomimic plays,  leaping,  hurling,  and  playing  a  game 
called  quoits. 

The  object  of  these  exercises,  and  the  high  estimation 
in  which  physical  strength  and  agility  were  held  by  the 
ancients,  may  be  learned  from  the  fact  that  many  of 
the  highest  offices  and  places  of  distinction  were  con- 
ferred upon  those  who  excelled  in  the  performance  of 
athletic  sports. 

The  Olympian  Games  and  other  public  fields  of  com- 
petition were  undoubtedly  established  by  the  legislators 
of  Greece  and  Rome  for  the  purpose  of  preserving 
among  the  youth  of  those  nations  that  just  equilibrium 
of  mind  and  body  which  health,  promoted  by  physical 
culture,  is  so  efficacious  in  insuring. 

The  diminution  of  gymnastic  exercises  in  popular  favor 
by  the  Greeks  and  Romans  arose  at  last  from  the  abuses 
which  excessive  devotion  to  their  performance  origin- 
ated. Physical  culture  prevailed  over  mental.  Muscle 
was  developed  at  the  expense  of  brain.  Athletes  and 
gladiators  were  preferred  to  statesmen  and  thinkers,  and 
in  process  of  time  the  reaction  of  popular  opinion  set  in, 
and  restored  mind  to  the  seats  of  power,  and  the  cul- 
ture of  physique  to  its  true  status  of  a  hygienic  neces- 
sity. 

10* 


H4  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

The  only  legitimate  object  of  gymnastic  exercises 
is  to  call  into  play  the  entire  set  of  nerves,  muscles, 
and  joints,  and  that  without  exaggerating  any  part 
by  unnatural  tension,  strain,  distortion,  or  excessive 
fatigue. 

Ten  minutes  is  a  sufficient  amount  of  time  to  devote 
each  day  to  such  light,  graceful,  and  healthful  move- 
ments as  are  best  calculated  to  call  into  action  the 
whole  frame  and  stimulate  it  without  injury.  The  gym- 
nastics, or  I  should  say  the  well-studied  movements, 
practiced  under  my  own  supervision  by  my  classes,  have 
invariably  been  found  to  promote  health,  develop 
strength,  and  impart  graceful  action,  and  that  without 
exceeding  a  ten  minutes'  limit  of  time,  including  too, 
when  expedient  and  attainable,  the  use  of  the  sponge- 
bath.  I  cannot,  in  this  treatise,  pretend  to  give  a  man- 
ual of  the  movements  best  calculated  to  effect  these 
desirable  results.  There  are  always  sufficient  oppor- 
tunities open  for  the  practice  of  light  gymnastics, 
movement-cures,  etc.,  and  it  only  requires  the  com- 
munity to  appreciate  thoroughly  their  valuable  results 
to  insure  their  universal  exercise. 

PART  II. — FOOD  AND  DRINK. 

To  offer  any  remarks  to  intelligent  men  and  women 
upon  the  necessity  of  regulating  the  quantity  and  quality 
of  the  food  they  consume,  or  to  recommend  special. ob- 
servance of  the  times  and  seasons  when  they  should 
refresh  their  appetites  with  food,  would  be  as  super- 
fluous as  to  insist  on  the  value  of  physical  culture.  It 
is  universally  admitted  that  quite  one-half  of  the  dis- 


HYGIENE.  H5 

eases  that  afflict  the  race,  originate  in  dyspepsia,  whilst 
dyspepsia  itself  is  but  the  pathological  indication  of 
un physiological  methods  of  dieting. 

Whilst  the  truth  of  these  positions  is  so  universally 
felt,  it  seems  almost  paradoxical  to  see  rational  beings 
perpetually  living  against  knowledge,  and  continuing 
to  indulge  in  the  very  practices  which  above  all  others 
their  reason  would  most  condemn. 

The  truth  is  that  physiological  methods  in  eating 
and  drinking  are  so  simple,  natural,  and  easily  under- 
stood, that  astute  persons  are  apt  to  deern  them  beneath 
their  notice,  think  there  is  no  science  about  them,  and 
hence  they  become  the  most  neglected  of  all  the  laws 
of  our  being.  True,  they  are  simple,  but  their  very 
simplicity  renders  their  observance  imperative.  They 
are  natural,  but  they  are  also  stern,  and  will  not  brook 
any  unnatural  interference  in  their  action. 

To  lay  down  arbitrary  rules  as  to  what  we  should 
eat,  drink,  and  avoid,  would  be  as  fallacious  as  to  lay 
down  rules  for  one  kind  of  costume  for  all  sorts  of 
climates  and  occupations.  Diet,  like  sleep,  must  first  be 
adapted  to  the  soil  and  climate  in  which  we  reside, 
and  next,  to  the  habits  of  life  and  temperaments  of 
different  individuals. 

In  cold  climates  there  is  greater  demand  for  oleagi- 
nous food  than  in  the  tropics,  and  that  because  there  is 
a  greater  proportion  of  combustible  action  required  in 
the  system  to  promote  animal  heat,  and  animal  heat 
depends  much  upon  the  quality  of  the  food  we  con- 
sume, and  whether  there  is  an  adequate  supply  of 
oleaginous  or  fatty  matters  to  promote  combustion.  In 
warm  climates,  where  the  evaporation  is  rapid  and 


Ii6  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

the  atmosphere  more  than  supplies  the  demand  of  the 
system  for  vital  heat,  thirst  is  excessive,  and  there  is 
an  urgent  desire  to  compensate  for  excessive  evapora- 
tion by  the  imbibition  of  large  quantities  of  liquids. 
Now,  it  is  a  well-known  fact  that  this  urgent  desire  for 
drink,  so  prevalent  in  hot  countries,  cannot  be  quenched 
by  pouring  fluids  into  the  system. 

These  are  taken  up  in  the  general  circulation,  and, 
as  they  retard  rather  than  promote  digestion,  their 
tendency  is  to  create  feverish  conditions,  which  increase 
rather  than  diminish  thirst.  To  meet  this  distressing 
paradox,  the  kindly  dispensations  of  a  beneficent  Provi- 
dence supply  the  inhabitants  of  tropical  climes  with  a 
profusion  of  those  nutritious  and  succulent  fruits  which 
restore  the  healthful  juices  of  the  body  without  weak- 
ening the  digestion  by  introducing  too  much  fluid  into 
the  stomach.  It  has  been  proved,  as  a  general  rule, 
that  the  inhabitants  of  special  climates  are  surrounded 
by  just  those  articles  of  consumption  which  are  best 
adapted  to  the  conditions  in  which  they  live.  The 
fruits,  vegetables,  cereals,  and  animal  productions  of 
every  land  are  in  strict  harmony  with  the  soil  and 
climate  that  produce  them,  and  those  who  live  in 
normal  accordance  with  their  natural  surroundings 
are  generally  found  to  present  the  best  evidences  of 
physical  strength  and  healthful  balance. 

In  Europe  and  America  the  generally  temperate 
character  of  the  climate,  together  with  the  varieties  of 
natural  productions,  in  the  shape  of  fruit,  vegetables, 
and  animals,  that  are  offered  for  man's  consumption, 
suggest  the  propriety  of  using  a  mixed  diet;  and  in  this 
respect,  as  indeed  in  every  other,  physiological  results 


HYGIENE.  1 1 7 

are  most  surely  obtained  by  respecting  Nature's  prompt- 
ings, receiving  all  her  bounties  thankfully,  and  appro- 
priating them  temperately  to  the  use  of  the  organism 
which  she  has  surrounded  with  its  most  appropriate 
means  of  nourishment. 

In  a  previous  chapter,  we  have  offered  a  sufficient 
number  of  arguments  in  favor  of  a  mixed  diet,  or  one 
that  includes  animal,  vegetable,  and  some  small  propor- 
tion of  mineral  substances. 

The  formation  of  our  three  kinds  of  teeth,  the  com- 
pound nature  of  our  organisms,  made  up  of  such  a 
variety  of  tissues,  and  so  many  different  primitive  sub- 
stances, all  imply  that  an  equal  variety  of  elements  are 
necessary  to  supply  the  waste  and  keep  up  the  repair 
of  our  wonderfully  constituted  structures;  and  these 
theories  are  so  far  sustained  by  practice,  that  we  find 
the  highest  types  of  the  race  existing  in  those  lands 
where  the  inhabitants  feed  upon  such  a  mixed  character 
of  diet,  as  is  common  in  Europe  and  America. 

Different  organisms  should  always  be  considered  irre- 
spective of  general  rules,  and  individual  temperaments 
should  have  the  privilege  of  dictating  the  choice  of 
such  articles  of  food  as  experience  proves  to  be  most 
easily  assimilated,  and  rejecting  others  obnoxious  either 
to  the  taste  or  well-being  of  the  individuals. 

Notwithstanding  the  outcry  that  has  been  raised  by 
some  physiologists  against  tea  and  coffee,  I  cannot  deem 
their  moderate  use  objectionable,  nor  except  them  from 
the  list  of  nourishing  dietetics.  "The  cup  that  cheers, 
but  not  inebriates,"  must  be  admissible  as  a  nervine  in 
conditions  of  the  organism  that  require  acceleration  of 
nervous  power  to  enable  Nature  to  perform  her  functions ; 


Ii8  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

and  in  this  category  both  tea  and  coffee,  carefully  pre- 
pared and  used  in  moderation,  are  valuable  accessories 
to  the  tables  of  civilization.  There  are  more  reasons 
than  mere  taste  why  tea  should  not  be  legislated  out  of 
fashion  by  the  asceticism  of  physiological  reform. 

It  lessens  the  wear  and  tear  of  the  system,  and  the 
experience  of  many  is,  that  tea  assists  digestion,  helps 
to  dissolve  the  food  in  the  stomach,  and  thus  obtains 
from  a  given  amount,  a  larger  proportion  of  nourish- 
ment. This  is  the  rule  in  the  use  of  tea.  With  plenty 
of  food,  tea  is  beneficial,  because  it  is  a  powerful  di- 
gestive agent ;  but  where  tea  is  taken  without  corre- 
sponding food  to  digest,  it  wastes  the  tissues  of  the  body 
and  lowers  the  vital  powers. 

Coffee  is,  in  my  experience,  a  still  more  beneficial 
beverage,  used  in  moderation  and  prepared  judiciously, 
than  tea.  And  here  let  me  remark  that  my  advocacy 
of  the  use  of  coffee  is  always  accompanied  by  the  un- 
limited qualification  that  it  shall  be  prepared  in  a  por- 
celain and  never  in  a  metal  vessel.  The  French,  whose 
penchant  for  coffee,  and  skill  in  its  preparation,  have 
become  proverbial,  now  admit  that  the  use  of  metals  in 
connection  with  coffee  prejudicially  affects  its  chemi- 
cal properties ;  and  I  have  found,  by  many  carefully 
conducted  experiments,  that  the  most  beneficial  effects 
of  coffee  are  prejudiced,  if  not  actually  neutralized, 
by  the  use  of  metal  vessels  in  which  to  prepare  or 
serve  it  up.  These  remarks  apply  measurably  to  tea 
also. 

On  the  question  of  alcohol  we  cannot  present  the 
same  palliatives,  or  indeed  any  at  all;  for  whether  we 
regard  its  use  as  the  stepping-stone  to  the  ruinous  and 


HYGIENE. 


119 


degrading  vice  of  intoxication,  or  simply  limit  our  view 
in  respect  to  the  physiological  effects  it  produces  on  the 
system,  we  can  find  nothing  to  commend,  and  every- 
thing to  deter  us  from  classing  it  among  the  articles  of 
consumption  fit  for  civilized  beings.  Hardening  to  the 
coats  of  the  stomach,  totally  indigestible,  drying  and 
consuming,  although  temporarily  exciting,  to  the  brain 
and  nerves,  inflammatory  to  the  blood,  and  far  too  stim- 
ulating in  its  temporary  effects  upon  the  muscular  sys- 
tem, we  cannot  point  to  one  good  effect  in  the  use  of 
alcohol. 

Whilst  volumes  might  be  written  on  the  evils  of  in- 
temperance, far  too  little  notice  is  taken  of  the  per- 
nicious effects  of  the  use  of  alcohol,  in  any  quantity  or 
any  form.  In  connection  with  this  subject,  we  may 
call  the  reader's  attention  to  a  few  quotations  from  the 
prize  essay  on  the  use  of  alcoholic  liquors,  written 
by  Dr.  Wm.  B.  Carpenter,  the  now  acknowledged 
leader  of  physiological  science  in  Europe  and  America. 

This  great  authority  says,  "The  most  important 
physical  change  which  the  contact  of  alcohol  effects  in 
the  softer  tissues  is  that  of  corrugation,  which  change 
is  entirely  due  to  the  difference  in  the  capillary  attrac- 
tion of  the  tissue  for  alcohol  and  for  water  respectively. 
If  animal  membranes,  etc.,  be  placed  in  alcohol  in  a 
fresh  state,  thoroughly  charged  with  water,  there  are 
formed,  at  all  points  where  water  and  alcohol  meet, 
mixtures  of  the  two;  and,  as  the  animal  texture  absorbs 
much  less  alcohol  than  pure  water,  the  first  result  is  a 
shrinking  of  the  animal  substances."  Again:  "Dr.  Percy 
found  that  when  animals  are  poisoned  by  alcohol  intro- 
duced into  the  stomach,  the  coats  of  that  organ  become 


120  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

so  thoroughly  imbued  with  it  that  no  washing  or  ma- 
ceration can  remove  it. 

"  The  physical  change  just  described  must  have  an 
important  influence  upon  the  chemical  relations  of 
the  tissues,  since  it  is  impossible  that  alcohol  can  be 
substituted,  in  however  small  a  proportion,  for  their 
constituent  water  without  producing  a  decided  altera- 
tion in  their  chemical  properties,  which  must  disturb 
the  normal  series  of  changes  involved  in  nutritive 
operations 

"  No  considerable  change  can  take  place,  of  a  physi- 
cal or  chemical  nature,  in  any  of  the  animal  tissues 
without  disordering  their  vital  properties  also ;  and  we 
have  now  to  inquire  into  the  mode  in  which  these 
properties  are  affected  by  contact  with  alcoholic 
liquids." 

Without  entering  further  on  the  ground  so  ably  and 
thoroughly  traversed  by  the  learned  physiologist,  it  is 
enough  to  say  that  he  completely  routs  the  army  of 
"moderate  drinkers"  at  all  points,  and  shows  conclu- 
sively that  injury,  alike  to  nerves,  muscle,  strength  of 
mind,  and  vigor  of  body,  must  result  from  the  use  of 
alcohol  and  fermented  liquors  in  any  quantity,  how- 
ever small. 

On  the  proper  modes  and  best  seasons  for  consuming 
food,  all  intelligent  physiologists  must  be  agreed.  In 
the  first  place,  then,  we  must  deprecate  the  custom  of 
drinking  quantities  of  any  kind  of  fluid  at  meals. 

On  this  point  we  refer  the  reader  to  our  treatise  on 
the  digestive  apparatus,  and  proceed  to  insist  that  from 
three  to  at  least  four  hours  should  be  allowed  to  inter- 
vene before  one  meal  succeeds  another,  and  food  should 


HYGIENE.  12i 

never  be  permitted  to  enter  the  stomach  until  it  has 
been  thoroughly  masticated,  to  effect  which  process 
requires  time,  and  that  time  should  be  given  without 
stint  and  without  interruption.  A  vast  amount  of 
nervous  power  is  called  into  play  in  the  processes  of 
mastication,  deglutition,  and  digestion. 

If  these  are  hurried  through,  and  the  stomach  has 
to  perform  the  process  of  reducing  the  food  to  chyme, 
as  well  as  digesting  it,  this  organ,  faithful  to  its  one 
function,  will  refuse  the  work,  and  cast  the  half-masti- 
cated food  into  the  alimentary  canal  in  an  unprepared 
state. 

The  functions  of  the  alimentary  canal  cannot  be  ex- 
ceeded any  more  than  those  of  the  stomach, — neither 
will  or  can  do  the  work  of  the  mouth,  teeth,  and 
salivary  glands;  hence  a  mass  of  half-masticated  food 
is  submitted  to  the  action  of  the  liver,  pancreas,  gall- 
bladder, and  lacteals,  wholly  unfit  for  blood-making 
purposes.  The  stomach  becomes  languid,  the  aliment- 
ary passages  overcharged  with  bile,  the  lacteals  weak- 
ened, the  blood  poor,  the  whole  system  degenerated, 
and  finally  given  up  to  the  demon  of  dyspepsia,  and 
its  long  list  of  attendant  ills.  It  is  easy  enough  to  see 
why  our  people,  in  their  devotion  to  business  pursuits 
and  eager  haste  to  accomplish  so  much  in  so  little  time, 
manufacture  the  demons  of  indigestion  at  every  hasty 
meal  they  consume ;  nor  can  all  the  remedial  arts  they 
bring  to  bear  upon  themselves,  restore  to  its  normal 
condition  of  equilibrium  a  digestive  apparatus  once 
assailed  by  a  regular  fit  of  dyspepsia. 

Another  source  of  injury  to  the  process  of  digestion 
arises  from  a  system  of  bad  cookery.  Undignified  as 


122  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

we  may  consider  the  subject  of  cookery  to  be,  and 
philosophical  as  we  may  deem  ourselves  when  we  affect 
to  treat  the  details  of  cooking  with  indifference,  we  are 
proving  in  this  country  by  sad  and  fatal  experience, 
that  our  physical  systems  are  degenerating  under  the 
compound  action  of  many  bad  practices,  among  which 
we  may  fairly  reckon  the  consumption  of  overdressed, 
hard,  stringy  meat,  half-cooked  vegetables,  greasy 
gravies  called  dip,  and  quantities  of  half-baked  hot 
bread,  washed  down  by  still  greater  quantities  of  in- 
digestible ice-water.  We  cannot  fail  to  notice  the 
prevalence  of  dyspepsia  and  the  early  decay  of  the 
teeth  in  America :  why  then  should  we  pass  over  in 
scornful  silence  the  causes  that  lead  to  these  deplorable 
results  ? 

The  French,  with  all  the  frivolity  of  which  we  accuse 
them,  are  surely  more  philosophic  in  regarding  cook- 
ery in  the  light  of  a  chemical  science,  than  we  are  in 
disregarding  it  as  a  subject  unworthy  of  attention,  or 
delegating  its  performance  to  ignorant  and  careless 
hirelings. 

I  am  well  convinced  that  the  haste,  silence,  and 
gloom  in  which  we  consume  our  meals,  the  utter  want 
of  chemical  knowledge  which  we  display  in  preparing 
them,  and  the  unnatural  haste  with  Avhich  we  rush  away 
directly  we  have  swallowed  them,  and  use  up  the  nervous 
force  essential  to  the  process  of  digestion  in  all  sorts 
of  other  directions,  are  influential  causes  in  promoting 
that  baleful  condition  of  dyspepsia  with  which  our 
people  are  fast  becoming  proverbially  afflicted. 

Still  more  injurious  is  the  disgusting  habit  of  chew- 
ing the  foul  poison  called  tobacco,  with  its  debilitating 


HYGIENE. 


123 


and  unclean  accompaniment  of  expectoration ;  added 
to  this  the  pernicious  custom  of  sealing  every  bargain 
or  settling  every  argument  over  the  fiery  alcoholic  cup, 
and  we  find  causes  enough  which  taken  separately  would 
readily  account  for  the  physical  degeneracy  of  any 
nation,  especially  when  they  are  practiced  as  universally 
as  in  America ;  but  when  we  remember  that  bad  food, 
bad  cookery,  the  habit  of  hasty  eating,  cutting  off  all 
time  and  rest  for  digestive  action,  the  custom  of  chew- 
ing and  often  of  smoking  in  addition,  spitting  inces- 
santly, and  drinking  in  proportion,  are  so  often  com- 
bined in  the  practice  of  one  individual,  our  astonishment 
should  not  be  to  see  so  many  ailing,  but  to  find  any 
constitutions  strong  enough  to  resist  the  influence  of 
such  pernicious  customs  for  any  extended  period  of 
life. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

HYGIENE  —  CONTINUED 
PART  III. — ABLUTIONS. 

IT  would  be  impossible  to  overestimate  the  value  of 
ablutions  as  means  of  promoting  health,  to  say  nothing 
of  the  influence  such  practices  exert  upon  beauty  of 
personal  appearance. 

"  Hydropathy"  may  be  regarded  as  an  extremism  in 
the  use  of  water,  and  although  the  system  is  by  some 
highly  commended  as  a  curative  art,  there  are  others 
who  regard  it  (and  not  without  good  cause)  as  a  dan- 
gerous method  of  practice.  Without  entering  into  the 
merits  or  demerits  of  hydropathy  in  its  remedial  action 
as  it  is  commonly  applied,  we  may  commend  the  use 
of  water  for  the  purposes  of  cleanliness,  not  only  as  a 
necessary  adjunct  of  civilization,  but  as  one  of  the  most 
essential  features  of  hygiene,  and  one  which  claims  an 
important  place  in  this  manual  of  health. 

One  very  essential  part  of  the  life-processes  is  absorp- 
tion, another  evaporation.  Both  these  procedures  are 
vital  portions  of  the.  economy  of  life,  and  both  are 
perpetually  transpiring  in  every  living  organism,  whether 
animal,  vegetable,  or  human. 

The  plants  absorb  dew,  moisture,  air,  light,  and  heat, 
as  means  of  repairing  and  building  up  their  tissues,  in 
124 


HYGIENE. 


125 


compensation  for  which  evaporation  is  carried  forward 
through  appropriate  conducting  vessels.  In  the  human 
organism,  the  skin  is  the  special  instrument  through 
which  these  dual  processes  are  carried  on,  and  here  too 
a  wonderful  array  of  conducting  channels,  or  pores, 
pierce  the  cuticle  in  every  part,  for  the  purpose  of  pro- 
moting evaporation  and  absorption. 

Experiments  upon  living  animals  have  proved  that 
any  obstacle  which  intervenes  to  arrest  the  action  of 
evaporation  and  absorption  is  fatal  to  life. 

Does  it  not  follow,  then,  that  even  a  slight  interrup- 
tion of  the  processes  whose  suspension  is  death,  must 
prove  injurious  to  the  integrity  of  the  body  in  exact 
proportion  to  the  extent  in  which  it  is  permitted  to 
act?  If  this  is  true,  the  necessity  for  promoting  the 
healthy  secretions  and  excretions  of  the  body  by  ample 
and  regular  ablutions  is  at  once  demonstrated.  To 
supply  the  waste  of  the  tissues  by  food  and  promote  the 
necessary  act  of  carrying  off  effete  matters  through  the 
ordinary  channels  of  excretion,  have  become  such 
established  points  in  physiological  practice  that  the 
first  inquiries  which  the  skillful  physician  institutes  into 
the  condition  of  his  patient  relate  to  his  appetite  on 
the  one  hand,  and  the  regularity  and  abundance  of 
the  excretory  functions  on  the  other. 

If  the  medical  profession  had  but  condescended  to 
stoop  to  the  combination  of  hygienic  with  therapeutic 
practices,  it  would  have  been  an  established  item  of 
the  physician's  duty  to  inquire  if  the  scalp  of  the  head 
was  clean  and  its  pores  unobstructed  by  dandruff  or 
other  extraneous  matters;  if  the  skin  were  thoroughly 
cleansed  every  day,  and  every  tiny  perspiratory  duct 
n* 


I26  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

was  permitted  free  access  to  the  outer  air,  both  as  a 
mouth  to  receive  atmospheric  influences  and  expel  by 
exhalation  the  effete  matters. constantly  accumulating 
in  the  system. 

To  whatever  part  of  the  skin  we  direct  our  attention, 
we  shall  find  that  kind  nature  has  provided  millions  of 
little  mouths  for  this  mode  of  dual  action.  In  what- 
ever direction  these  avenues  of  ingress  and  egress  are 
choked  up  by  dirt,  perspiration,  or  any  extraneous 
matter,  there  the  intentions  of  nature  are  defeated,  and 
some  kind  of  physical  disability  may  be  expected  to 
ensue. 

Hence  the  value  of  frequent  ablutions;  hence  the 
duty  of  the  physician  to  insist  upon  absolute  personal 
cleanliness  as  a  means  of  health,  and  the  equally  urgent 
necessity  of  individuals  to  practice  it  as  a  part  of  the 
law  of  self-preservation. 

The  wise  ancients,  especially  in  the  East,  where  a 
tropical  climate  induces  a  quick  and  abundant  evapor- 
ation, engrafted  systems  of  cleanliness  and  purification 
even  upon  their  religions.  In  India,  Egypt,  Arabia, 
Greece,  and  Rome,  all  the  religious  systems  abounded 
with  directions  for  the  use  of  ablutions,  as  well  as 
anointings  and  perfumes. 

The  followers  of  Moses  and  Mahomet  may  be  cited 
as  especial  examples  of  the  religious  duty  which  was 
enjoined  upon  them  in  the  practices  of  cleanliness  and 
periodical  purifications. 

Why  we  should  be  behind  our  venerable  forefathers 
in  these  most  necessary  and  healthful  processes,  it  is 
difficult  to  conceive;  the  fact  is  patent,  however,  that 
we — who  call  ourselves  civilized — are  far  more  lax  in 


IIYGIEXE. 


127 


respect  to  systems  of  regular  ablution  than  those  whom 
we  contemptuously  style  "the  heathen."  Without 
seeking  to  account  for  this  strange  anomaly,  we  merely 
notice  its  existence,  and,  since  we  are  no  longer  com- 
pelled to  keep  ourselves  clean  as  a  religious  duty,  let  us 
take  care  to  do  so  in  a  physiological  sense,  assured  that 
though  a  cleanly  body  may  not  always  be  a  healthy 
one,  an  uncleanly  skin  can  never  be  healthy,  no  matter 
how  coarse  and  seemingly  vigorous  the  constitution  may 
otherwise  appear.  Cutaneous  disorders  are  sure  to 
arise  in  connection  with  foul  skins,  and  sooner  or  later 
the  same  irruptive  conditions  that  were  exaggerated 
under  the  burning  skies  of  the  East  into  leprosy  and 
other  terrible  conditions  of  skin-disease,  will  find  out 
and  infect  the  forms  of  all  who  neglect  the  duty  of 
personal  cleanliness.  If  we  are  asked  what  kind  of 
ablution  we  should  most  recommend,  we  should  say, 
the  use  of  a  sponge-bath,  or  the  careful  removal  of  all 
cutaneous  accretions,  once  at  least  every  day,  by  the 
application  of  soap,  water,  and  a  good  rough  towel. 

Bathing  is  not  always  expedient  nor  invariably 
strengthening,  and,  unless  accompanied  by  smart  fric- 
tion, it  is  as  liable  to  debilitate  the  frame  as  to  cleanse 
its  surfaces. 

We  have  already  spoken  at  large  of  the  use — nay, 
the  necessity — of  the  electric  vapor  bath  as  a  cura- 
tive agent  in  disease.  It  is  also  a  valuable  purifier, 
penetrating  the  pores  of  the  skin  with  much  more 
completeness  than  water,  and  carrying  off  its  impu- 
rities with  a  more  direct  action  than  any  other  kind  of 
bath. 

Russian,  Turkish,  air,  water,  and   fumigated  baths 


128  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

generally  have  all  their  special  advocates;  and  sea- 
bathing, to  those  whose  constitutions  are  vigorous  or 
especially  adapted  to  bear  it — has  been  found  an  effica- 
cious stimulant  and  a  promoter  of  health;  but  as  a 
simple  article  of  hygienic  practice,  necessary  to  the 
processes  of  life,  and  attainable  in  every  family  under 
any  circumstances,  the  use  of  good  pure  water,  soap, 
and  a  daily  sponge-bath,  exceeds  all  other  hydropathic 
practices  in  universal  value. 

PART  IV. — VENTILATION. 

The  imperative  necessity  for  fresh  air,  pure  air,  and 
air  sufficient  in  quantity  as  well  as  good  in  quality,  is  a 
demand  which  has  been  instinctively  acknowledged 
as  essential  to  the  maintenance  of  human  life  and 
health  in  every  age,  whether  savage  or  civilized  ;  but 
it  remains  for  modern  science  to  demonstrate  what  are 
the  circumstances  under  which  airs  are  changed  from 
their  life-giving  properties  to  poison;  what  are  the 
constituent  elements  necessary  to  sustain  life  and  pro- 
mote health;  and  what  physiological  results  are  effected 
by  the  exclusion  of  pure  air  and  the  inhalation  of  that 
which  is  vitiated. 

Atmospheric  air  is  composed  of  one-fifth  of  oxygen, 
nearly  four-fifths  of  nitrogen,  a  very  slight  but  appre- 
ciable fraction  of  carbonic  acid  gas,  and  a  trace  of 
ammonia.  The  amount  of  oxygen  thus  inhaled  is  not 
only  an  essential  element  in  changing  the  character  of 
the  blood  in  the  lungs  from  venous  to  arterial,  but  it  is 
also  so  important  to  the  very  existence  of  animated 
beings  that  to  lessen  its  proportion  is  to  deprive  man 


HYGIENE. 


129 


of  health,  and  to  abstract  it  in  toto  from  the  atmos- 
phere would  be  to  cause  instant  death.  It  is  evident, 
then,  that  the  nearer  we  can  approach  nature's  wise 
provisions,  and  make  such  arrangements  in  our  mode 
of  living  as  will  give  us  air  to  breathe  as  nearly  re- 
sembling the  combinations  of  the  atmosphere  as  possi- 
ble, the  more  surely  we  shall  maintain  the  integrity  of 
health  and  the  soundness  of  intellect. 

To  diminish  the  quantity  of  oxygen  in  the  atmos- 
phere is  to  promote  languor  and  debility.  To  increase 
it  beyond  its  natural  or  normal  admixture  with  nitrogen 
is  to  create  excitement,  insanity,  or  even  death. 

So  to  organize  our  dwellings  and  places  of  resort  as 
to  provide  an  atmosphere  as  nearly  as  possible  at  blood 
heat,  and  combining  the  same  proportion  of  elements 
as  is  found  in  atmospheric  air,  should  be  the  aim  of 
social  science  and  hygienic  practice. 

Every  philosophical  treatise  of  modern  times  on  the 
subject  of  hygiene  has  recorded  at  sufficient  length 
the  evils  arising  from  the  lack  of  ventilation  in  our 
public  and  private  buildings,  ships,  and  churches. 
The  worst  effects,  however,  that  can  be  produced  on 
the  lungs  arise  from  the  necessity  of  breathing  over 
and  over  again  the  airs  and  exhalations  that  proceed 
from  the  human  body. 

It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  the  poisonous  effluvia  of 
coal  or  coke  gas,  tobacco,  the  fumes  of  heated  metals, 
or  mephitic  vapors,  are  all  less  pernicious  in  their 
effects  upon  the  system  than  the  accumulated  emana- 
tions given  off  from  a  dense  crowd  of  human  beings. 
Besides  the  waste  matters  exhaled  from  the  body  through 
watery  vapors,  the  expirations  of  every  breath,  as  we 
F* 


i  jo 


ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 


have  shown  in  our  anatomical  treatises,  are-loaded  with, 
carbonic  acid  gas,  and  this,  it  is  well  known  to  every 
school-boy,  is  fatal  to  life  in  any  great  quantity. 

To  all  other  pernicious  exhalations,  provided  they 
are  not  inhaled  to  excess,  the  lungs  may  ultimately  ad- 
just themselves;  and  it  is  proved  by  the  example  of 
miners,  charcoal-burners,  engineers,  stokers,  and  me- 
chanics working  over  heated  furnaces,  that  the  suffering 
lungs  may  in  time  adjust  themselves  to  these  unhealthful 
conditions,  and  life,  although  vitiated  and  poisoned 
with  different  forms  of  disease,  may  be  prolonged  even 
to  old  age ;  but  this  is  not  the  case  with  exhalations 
evolved  from  the  human  body.  The  experiences  of 
the  dreadful  slave  and  convict  ships,  the  horrors  of  the 
black  hole  of  Calcutta,  and  numerous  other  historical 
tragedies  of  a  similar  kind,  tend  to  prove  that  the 
darkest,  most  fatal,  and  rapid  poison  that  can  sap  the 
source  of  life,  or  suddenly  extinguish  it,  is  manufactured 
in  the  human  body;  that  is,  when  it  is  condensed  in 
over-crowded  apartments  or  closely-packed  assemblies, 
— in  any  condition,  in  fact,  where  the  needful  supply 
of  pure  atmospheric  air  is  unnaturally  withheld. 

As  it  is  needless  to  point  further  to  effects  which 
history  has  recorded  so  abundantly  and  physiological 
observation  demonstrates  with  each  hour's  experience, 
we  shall  close  our  subject  by  pointing  out  the  best 
methods  of  ventilation. 

As  a  general  rule,  every  apartment,  large  or  small, 
crowded  or  empty,  public  or  private,  by  night  or  by 
day,  should  have  some  direct  vent  for  the  admission 
of  atmospheric  air.  As  hydrogen  gas  ascends  and  car- 
bonic acid  gas  descends,  and  as  these  two  elements 


HYGIENE.  I3t 

constitute  the  poisons  most  injurious  to  human  life, 
every  apartment  should  also  be  provided  with  two 
vents  for  the  escape  of  these  impure  airs,  one  near  the 
ceiling,  the  other  near  the  floor. 

There  are  many  objections  urged  against  every  known 
method  both  of  heating  rooms  in  winter  and  of  cooling 
them  in  summer,  but  the  admission  of  some  propor- 
tion of  atmospheric  air,  obtained  directly  from  without, 
and  not  merely  filtered  in  from  chinks  and  crannies, 
should  be  held  as  one  indispensable  feature  of  life, 
whilst  the  provision  for  expelling  foul  airs  both  from 
above  and  below,  in  any  room  tenanted  by  one  or 
more  persons,  is  another  equally  imperative  item  of 
hygienic  law.  In  factories,  school-  and  work-rooms, 
and  machine  shops,  still  more  stringent  provisions 
should  be  made  for  ventilation,  whilst  in  the  sick-room 
and  sleeping-apartment  the  most  careful  arrangements 
for  changing  the  air  and  vitalizing  the  atmosphere 
with  oxygen  are  requisite. 

We  find  in  every  school-book  now  printed  on  the 
subject  of  hygiene,  as  well  as  in  an  abundant  supply  of 
treatises  continually  issuing  from  the  press,  fully  suffi- 
cient suggestions  for  special  methods  of  airing  our 
chambers,  dwellings,  and  public  buildings  ;  nor  need 
we  add,  to  the  stock  of  literature  with  which  the  age 
is  supplied,  any  particular  directions  on  this  subject. 
We  may,  however,  with  advantage  quote  a  few  lines 
of  a  popular,  though  anonymous,  treatise  on  domestic 
hygiene.  Our  common -sense  matter-of-fact  author 
says, — 

"It  is  of  great  importance  that  sleeping-rooms 
should  be  frequently  and  thoroughly  ventilated.  There 


1 32  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

are  many  European  practices,  which  in  this  particu- 
lar are  superior  to  our  own.  In  Italy,  for  example,  it 
is  the  custom  to  take  care  that  a  separation  of  all  the 
clothes  that  have  been  used  during  sleep  be  effected, 
and  thus  separately  suspended  from  the  windows,  so 
as  to  get  the  benefit  of  free  and  full  exposure  to  the 
purifying  influence  of  the  atmosphere.  Many  are  the 
contrivances  of  modern  ingenuity  for  the  purpose  of 
insuring  an  unobstructed  circulation  of  air  in  rooms, 
but  where  there  is  a  door,  a  window,  and  a  chimney- 
place,  all  these  contrivances  may  be  dispensed  with. 
Let  the  windows  of  the  bedroom,  however,  be  so  con- 
structed that  they  can  be  drawn  down  as  well  as  pushed 
up,  and  remember  that  a  sick-room  should  be  kept 
very  sweet  and  airy ;  there  should  never  be  a  close 
smell  in  it ;  if  the  weather  is  warm  enough,  let  the 
door  or  window  be  open ;  if  cold,  let  there  be  a  small 
fire;  the  chimney  should  never  be  stopped  up." 

Another  hygienic  rule,  which  we  may  suggest  in  this 
place  to  advantage,  will  be  found  in  the  following 
quotation  from  my  own  lectures  on  the  subject  of 
popular  customs  in  dress,  ventilation,  etc. : 

"  Never  retire  to  rest  in  any  of  the  under-garments 
that  have  been  worn  during  the  day.  Spread  out  and 
divide  separately  each  article  of  clothing,  and  expose 
them  all  to  the  action  of  the  air.  To  change  them 
every  day,  or  too  often,  debilitates  the  system  ;  to  wear 
the  same  garments  night  and  day  is  an  equally  un- 
cleanly and  unhealthful  custom.  Let  it  be  most  care- 
fully avoided." 

Commonplace  rules  of  this  kind  seem  scarcely  to 
comport  with  the  dignity  of  a  medical  treatise,  but  we 


HYGIENE. 


T33 


can  never  too  strongly  insist  on  the  fact  that  hygiene 
is  prevention,  medicine  not  always  cure.  If  prevent- 
ive systems  were  as  freely  adopted  as  medical  arts,  the 
latter  would  soon  cease  to  be  called  into  requisition. 
As  the  true  dignity  of  life,  therefore,  consists  in  its  use, 
we  do  not  deem  the  smallest  item  which  contributes  to 
promote  that  use  an  undignified  subject  for  live  men 
and  women  to  study,  or  the  good  physician  to  write 
about. 


It 


CHAPTER    X. 

HYGIENE CONTINUED. 

PART  V. — DRESS. 

As  an  article  of  hygiene,  dress  exercises  a  far  more 
important  influence  than  we  are  commonly  aware  of. 

Fashion  of  course  must  be  respected,  so  far  as  the 
painful  impressions  produced  upon  the  eye  by  marked 
and  obvious  departures  from  her  arbitrary  rules  are 
concerned :  but  fashion  is  seldom  a  good  physiologist, 
and  one  thing  is  quite  certain,  that  she  issues  her  man- 
dates and  imposes  her  commands  totally  irrespective 
of  physiology  ;  and  whether  the  two  accord,  is  a  mere 
matter  of  accident,  not  a  question  of  design. 

Allowing,  then,  that  the  prevailing  taste  of  the  day 
should  be  so  far  consulted  as  not  to  offend  the  eye  by 
any  abrupt  or  violent  infractions  of  popular  custom, 
dress  should  be  arranged  upon  physiological  principles, 
just  as  strictly  as  diet.  Our  first  care  should  be  to 
adapt  clothing  to  the  seasons,  so  as  to  avoid  undue  ex- 
cess of  heat  or  cold.  We  should  next  observe  that  the 
skin  requires  a  special  covering  in  its  direct  proximity, 
calculated  to  absorb  the  perspiration  and  exclude  the 
air  from  striking  upon  its  sensitive  surfaces. 

For  this  purpose  woolen  garments,  spun  or  knitted, 
have  generally  been  used  in  the  shape  of  under- 
>34 


HYGIENE. 


'35 


vests  and  drawers.  Instead  of  woolen,  I  would  sub- 
stitute canton  flannel,  or,  where  practicable,  spun 
silk,  the  latter  material  being  a  non-conductor  of  elec- 
tricity, and  therefore  better  calculated  to  maintain 
the  electric  forces  of  the  body  than  any  other  fabric. 
To  mothers  having  the  care  of  infants,  no  less  than  to 
fashionable  ladies,  whether  young  or  advanced  in  life, 
I  would  urge  the  danger  of  exposing  the  neck  and  arms 
to  the  direct  action  of  the  air  without  some  interposing 
covering. 

So  necessary  do  I  deem  caution  in  this  respect,  that 
I  constantly  advocate  in  my  physiological  lectures  the 
use  of  a  chest-protector,  made  of  wash-leather  or  some 
soft  marterial  of  a  similar  character,  placed  over  the  sur- 
faces of  the  chest  and  back,  both  of  which  should  be 
worn  from  the  fall  of  the  year  to  the  early  spring. 
Where  these  chest-protectors  are  adopted  as  a  regular 
article  of  dress  during  the  winter,  a  large  percentage 
of  the  throat  and  pulmonary  complaints  that  prevail  to 
such  a  destructive  extent  are  avoided.  Common  sense 
assures  us  that  a  custom  directly  opposed  to  this  pro- 
tective mode  of  covering  the  chest  must  be  productive 
of  the  most  fatal  consequences. 

The  surfaces  of  skin  over  the  chest,  leading  directly 
to  the  lungs,  are  the  most  vital  portions  of  the  organ- 
ism ;  and  to  expose  them,  and  thus  check  the  important 
processes  of  evaporation,  is  a  sacrifice  to  fashion  which 
cannot  be  too  severely  censured.  I  once  had  occasion 
to  remonstrate  with  a  young  mother  on  the  imprudence 
of  exposing  the  tender  surfaces  of  her  little  one's  neck 
and  arms  to  the  air  when  "  full  dressed."  and  carefully 
excluding  it  from  the  mouth  and  face  by  veils  and  shawls 


136  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

when  taken  out  into  the  atmosphere.  She  answered  me, 
"it  looked  so  pretty,"  and  "its  neck  and  arms  were  so 
like  wax  it  was  a  shame  to  hide  them, — but  as  to  the 
open  air  blowing  into  its  lungs  when  out  of  doors — oh, 
of  course,  that  must  be  dangerous,"  etc.  When  that 
young  mother  laid  away  her  little  girl  in  the  grave, 
robbed  of  life  by  the  action  of  a  severe  cold  falling 
upon  the  lungs,  she  could  not  be  made  to  comprehend 
that  she  had  herself  been  instrumental  in  its  premature 
decease,  that  the  air  which  she  had  so  unwisely  re- 
strained from  entering  in  by  legitimate  channels  to  the 
throat  and  lungs  had  been  absolutely  necessary  to  vi- 
talize its  fading  life,  that  the  lungs  had  been  poisoned 
and  become  shriveled  for  the  want  of  it,  and  that  the 
muffling  veils  and  shawls  that  had  driven  it  back  were 
so  many  fragments  of  its  shroud.  This  is  the  action 
which,  measurably,  every  fashionable  female  induces 
when  she  goes  out  muffled  up  to  the  eyes  to  keep  away 
the  healthful  air  from  the  interior  of  her  lungs,  and 
returns  to  the  heated  ball-room  or  fashionable  assembly 
with  neck  and  shoulders  stripped  bare,  and  alternate 
waves  of  heat  and  streams  of  cold  striking  upon  her 
with  deadly  though  insidious  force.  The  face,  throat, 
hands,  and  even  feet,  may  be  bared  with  impunity,  but 
the  surfaces  which  cover  deep  muscles  or  vital  organs 
should  never  be  exposed  to  the  direct  action  of  the 
air;  and  it  is  from  the  wanton  neglect  of  this  impor- 
tant item  in  hygienic  practice  that  so  many  females  fall 
victimsto  consumption,  bronchial  affections,  and  lung- 
diseases. 

Another  dangerous  violation  of  hygienic  law  is  the 
use  of   elastic    bands  around  the  arms   or   knees   for 


HYGIENE. 


'37 


the  purpose  of  confining  under-sleeves  or  stockings. 
The  rubber  fabrics  used  for  this  purpose  not  only  com- 
press the  limbs  injuriously,  but  seriously  affect  the 
circulation  and  render  the  wearers  liable  to  paralytic 
and  other  retarded  conditions  of  the  circulatory  flow, 
the  full  extent  and  danger  of  which  seem  to  bear  but 
slight  proportion  to  the  insignificance  of  the  producing 
cause.  When  it  is  remembered  that  straps  attached  to 
the  stockings  and  fastened  to  a  band  worn  about  the 
waist  will  answer  all  the  purposes  of  neatness  without 
any  of  the  dangers  or  inconveniences  of  elastic  com- 
pressions at  the  knees,  the  maintenance  of  this  practice 
by  well-informed  persons  seems  almost  inexcusable. 

Still  another  pernicious  custom  imposed  by  fashion, 
is  the  use  of  tight  compressions  round  the  waist,  so 
common  in  the  costume  of  fashionable  females.  To 
insist  that  the  skirts  shall  be  cut  short,  and  the  garments 
worn  loosely  dependent  from  the  shoulders  alone,  is 
neither  necessary  nor  philosophical.  A  moderate 
amount  of  support  given  to  the  ribs  at  that  portion  of 
the  female  organism  called  "the  waist,"  is  not  in  the 
least  degree  injurious;  on  the  contrary,  by  confining, 
without  undue  pressure,  such  garments  as  depend 
from  the  neck  and  shoulders  about  the  body,  the  weight 
is  more  equally  divided,  and  both  thorax  and  abdom- 
inal regions  are  better  protected  than  by  simply  hang- 
ing clothes  around  the  form ;  but  the  source  of  all 
injury  in  this  direction  is  first  the  unnatural  and  closely- 
drawn  compression  of  the  waist,  to  the  manifest  injury 
of  the  respiratory  and  digestive  organs,  and  next  the 
custom  of  imposing  upon  the  hips  and  body  the  ex- 
cessive weight  of  a  great  number  of  heavy  skirts. 

12* 


138  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

No  matter  what  fashion  dictates,  the  compression  of 
the  ribs,  in  order  to  produce  the  effect  of  a  small  waist, 
is  fatal  either  to  lungs  or  stomach,  or  both.  The 
simple  view  of  the  organism  in  its  natural  state  will 
bear  sufficient  testimony  to  the  injurious  effect  of  com- 
pressing the  waist.  The  lungs  are  squeezed  together, 
the  action  of  the  heart  must  be  labored,  the  diaphragm 
cannot  move  freely,  and  the  stomach,  with  all  its 
attendant  viscera,  is  forced  out  of  place.  Does  it  re- 
quire any  treatise  to  predicate  the  results  of  such  an 
insane  and  pernicious  custom?  So  long  as  it  prevails, 
look  to  see  our  young  women  pale,  emaciated,  and 
consumptive;  our  mature  women  dyspeptic  and  vic- 
timized by  all  sorts  of  internal  difficulties;  and  the 
rising  generation  afflicted  with  a  set  of  hereditary 
diseases  entailed  upon  them  by  the  pernicious  influ- 
ences of  unphysiological  customs  in  dress. 

The  same  remarks  apply  to  loading  the  head — espe- 
cially the  back  brain — with  masses  of  false  hair.  Be- 
sides the  injurious  weight  imposed  upon  a  part  of  the 
body  which  should  be  kept  as  free  as  possible  from  all 
extraneous  matters,  the  heat  thereby  produced  is  fatal 
to  the  integrity  of  the  organism  ;  the  scalp,  too,  be- 
comes clogged,  the  evaporating  processes  hindered. 
Cleanliness  is  wholly  incompatible  with  such  a  custom, 
and  it  is  nine  chances  to  one  but  diseases  of  the  brain 
will  ensue  from  its  long  continuance. 

No  word  need  be  written  against  the  use  of  cos- 
metics. Anything  which  chokes  up  the  pores  of  the 
skin  must  be  injurious ;  hence  all  pleas  urged  for  the 
"harmless"  nature  of  the  cosmetic  employed  are  at 
once  quenched,  and  every  application  made  to  the 


HYGIENE.  139 

skin,  except  pure  water  and  soap,  must  be  included  in 
the  category  of  unphysiological  offenses. 

I  must  here  add  a  few  words  on  the  preservation  of 
the  teeth.  We  have  already  suggested  that  dyspepsia 
is  one  of  the  most  fruitful  sources  of  injury  to  the 
teeth,  and  the  unphysiological  methods  of  diet  prac- 
ticed among  us  are  quite  enough  to  account  for  their 
early  decay.  We  must  remark,  however,  that  in 
Europe,  where  persons,  even  of  advanced  age,  often 
present  the  pleasing  spectacle  of  a  fine  set  of  teeth,  it 
is  an  invariable  custom  among  well-bred  people  to 
charge  upon  their  children  the  use  of  the  tooth-brush 
night  and  morning.  Besides  the  charm  which  clean 
teeth  present  to  the  eye,  besides  the  improvement  it 
must  impart  to  the  breath  and  digestive  apparatus, 
there  can  be  no  doubt  but  that  the  act  of  removing  the 
animal  matter  which  adheres  to  the  sockets  of  the 
teeth  must  be  instrumental  in  preserving  their  integrity 
and  keeping  them  sound  and  white.  Americans  are 
not  sufficiently  careful  in  this  respect,  and  many  a 
young  girl,  whose  countenance  would  otherwise  be 
beautiful,  is  only  tolerable  when  her  mouth  is  shut, 
and  a  set  of  yellow,  unclean  teeth  are  hidden  from 
view. 

I  have  only  to  add  that  thick-soled  boots,  without 
being  too  weighty,  are  far  more  conducive  to  health 
than  thin.  Woolen  socks  or  stockings  are  better  cal- 
culated to  preserve  the  feet  from  chafing  than  cotton ; 
but  silk,  as  being  non-conductors  of  electricity,  should 
be  only  worn  when  mixed  with  cotton,  in  the  fabric 
commonly  called  spun-silk.  Fine  thread,  however,  is 
a  fai  better  article  for  wear  on  the  feet  than  silk  at  all. 


1 40  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

Veils,  though  agreeable  to  shade  the  face,  should  never 
be  pressed  over  the  mouth  so  as  to  repel  or  drive  the 
breath  back  upon  the  breather. 

Such  simple  directions  as  these,  small  and  unimpor- 
tant as  they  seem  to  the  more  momentous  issues  of  life 
and  death,  are  all  and  each  sand-grains,  essential  in 
the  structure  of  life  and  instrumental  in  promoting  or 
retarding  the  approach  of  death.  Let  no  one  despise 
the  day  of  small  things,  for  of  such  are  the  grand 
totalities  of  being  made  up. 

PART  VI. — LATE  HOURS. 

I  cannot  sufficiently  deprecate  the  custom  of  turn- 
ing night  into  day,  or  remaining  longer  in  bed  than 
the  absolute  demand  for  rest  and  recuperation  of  body 
requires.  There  can  be  no  doubt  but  that  nature  de- 
signed man  to  conform  to  the  habits  of  the  lower 
creatures  in  respect  to  employing  the  hours  of  darkness 
for  rest,  and  of  light  for  activity.  It  may  be  argued 
against  this  position,  that  the  seasons  of  winter  and 
summer  are  so  unequal  that  it  would  be  impossible  to 
conform  to  this  rule  without  an  entire  change  in  all 
our  social  systems;  but  this  argument  might  be  at  once 
met  with  the  question,  why  we  ever  organized  social 
systems  that  were  not  in  harmony  with  nature? 

Not  to  enter  upon  useless  and  speculative  theories, 
however,  and  taking  society  as  it  is,  not  as  it  should  be, 
we  find  that  the  conditions  of  darkness  are  unfavor- 
able to  growth,  activity,  or  any  great  tax  upon  the 
system,  mentally  or  physically.  Light  is  the  result  of 
a  galvanic  action  going  on  between  the  terrestrial  and 


HYGIENE. 


141 


solar  atmospheres.  Darkness  is  the  suspension  of  that 
action. 

No  kind  of  artificial  light,  however  brilliant,  can 
affect  the  atmosphere  generally,  or  replace  the  healthful 
vitalizing  activity  of  the  sun's  influence  ;  hence,  we 
repeat,  the  condition  of  darkness  is  unfavorable  for 
human  action,  and  the  more  we  can  shorten  the  period 
during  which  we  employ  it  the  better.  Let  the 
extreme  languor  and  lassitude  which  palsy  the  frames 
of  those  who  rise  after  any  efforts  prolonged  into  the 
night  hours,  bear  witness  of  my  position. 

The  custom  of  remaining  in  bed  whilst  the  busy 
particles  of  the  atmosphere  are  circling  beneath  the 
influence  of  light,  is  equally  unnatural  and  injurious. 
Besides  enervating  the  frame  by  the  heat  of  the  bed, 
whatever  habit  is  opposed  to  natural  law  must  be  more 
or  less  injurious.  The  activity  of  nature  manifest  in 
the  very  fact  of  light,  and  its  origin  in  motion,  implies 
that  it  is  the  season  most  favorable  for  human  effort, 
and  therefore  the  sooner  we  can  leave  our  bed,  and  bathe 
ourselves  in  the  morning  light  after  it  has  dawned,  the 
more  naturally  we  shall  live  and  the  more  healthfully 
we  shall  maintain  life. 

Did  the  limitations  of  our  space  permit,  we  should 
have  much  to  say  about  the  employments  of  life,  and 
the  necessity  of  alternating  amusement  with  business, 
practicing  social  virtues,  social  habits,  and  recreative 
enjoyments.  We  should  urge  upon  all  persons  the 
culture  of  plants,  both  as  a  healthful  act  and  a  beauti- 
ful source  of  psychological  enjoyment.  We  should 
advocate  the  practice  of  music  whenever  attainable,  as 
an  element  in  social  life,  impressive  for  good,  and 


•142  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

therefore  for  health ;  but  all  these  subjects,  although 
comprehended  in  the  laws  of  social  science,  belong 
rather  to  the  relations  of  mind  with  matter  than  of 
matter  with  mind.  That  a  contented  mind,  an  even 
temper,  and  a  spirit  disciplined  into  the  subjugation  of 
every  passion  to  the  rule  of  reason,  are  all  essential 
features  of  healthful  existence,  every  day's  experience 
demonstrates  to  every  rational  creature. 

That  a  large  percentage  of  our  physical  evils  are  the 
results  of  ill-balanced  minds,  violent  tempers,  and 
mental  sufferings,  are  axiomatic  facts  which  none  can 
deny.  The  specialties  of  this  treatise,  however,  do 
not  permit  us  to  enlarge  upon  these  most  important 
themes  beyond  a  mere  hint  as  to  their  influence.  The 
best,  and  indeed  sole  conclusion  to  which  we  can  at 
present  arrive  is,  that  TEMPERANCE  in  all  things,  whether 
physical,  dietetic,  emotional,  passional,  intellectual,  or 
spiritual,  is  the  golden  mean  of  a  true  life ;  that  its 
neglect  is  crime,  disease,  and  misery;  its  observance, 
health,  wisdom,  and  happiness. 


CHAPTER    XL 

MEDICAL   PRACTICE. 
ITS   ANTIQUITY   AND   PROGRESS. 

FROM  the  earliest  ages  it  has  been  found  that  in  pro- 
portion to  the  increase  in  man's  artificial  demands,  so 
has  his  physical  system  retrograded  from  the  condition 
of  rude  health  to  one  of  disease  and  degeneration. 
Whilst  the  mind  grows  and  expands  under  the  influ- 
ences of  civilization,  the  body  becomes  obviously  dis- 
turbed, so  that  some  ancient  philosophers  have  not 
hesitated  to  affirm  that  it  was  the  unnatural  tension 
that  education  imposed  upon  the  brain  that  changed 
the  normal  condition  of  health,  so  invariably  found  in 
the  savage,  to  those  complicated  states  of  disease  which 
ever  prevail  in  connection  with  civilization.  To  this 
sweeping  proposition,  however,  I  do  not  believe  our 
sage  ancestors  will  find  many  adherents.  That  an 
undue  amount  of  mental  labor  must  at  all  times  prove 
prejudicial  to  the  physical  system  is  an  axiom  which  it 
requires  no  special  degree  of  philosophy  to  compre- 
hend, but  that  the  normal  exercise  of  the  brain,  and 
the  direction  of  the  faculties  to  the  acquisition  of 
knowledge,  can  ever  operate  unfavorably  upon  the 
body,  no  rational  observer  of  human  life  and  its  func- 
tions can  believe. 


144 


ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 


Other  causes  must  be  sought  for,  then,  to  account  for 
the  degradation  of  the  physical  system  which  ensues  in 
the  change  from  savage  naturalism  to  civilized  artificiali- 
ties, and  these  are  easily  enough  discovered  when  we 
begin  to  analyze  the  unhealthful  methods  of  living  which 
the  conventionalities  of  society  impose  upon  us. 

Crowded  cities,  filthy  streets,  undrained  waste  places, 
ill-ventilated  dwellings ;  the  unnatural  habit  of  turn- 
ing night  into  day,  and  spending  long  hours  which 
ought  to  be  devoted  to  rest  and  recuperation  in  heated, 
over-crowded  places  of  amusement,  where  the  exhala- 
tions of  a  heterogeneous  assembly  combine  with  the 
effluvia  of  gas  to  poison  the  air ;  the  over-exercise  to 
which  the  poor  are  condemned,  the  excessive  indolence 
which  debilitates  the  bodies  of  the  rich ;  bad  and  un- 
wholesome food  taken  in  too  little  or  too  much  quan- 
tity; the  varieties  of  stimulating  drinks,  spices,  and 
condiments  introduced  by  modern  luxury ;  the  absurd 
compressions  and  exposures  which  fashion  dictates  in 
costume ;  all  these,  and  hundreds  of  other  pernicious 
customs  originating  in  what  is  called  civilized  life,  are 
more  than  sufficient  to  account  for  the  gradual  degen- 
eracy which  possesses  the  physical  systems  of  those  who 
live  under  its  institutions. 

Without  attempting  to  discuss  the  means  by  which 
the  abuses  of  civilization  might  be  separated  from  its 
splendid  uses,  it  is  enough  that  we  simply  allude  to 
their  existence  by  way  of  introducing  that  system  of 
remedial  art  which  has  been  deemed  necessary  to  coun- 
teract their  evil  effects,  namely,  the  practice  of  medicine. 

In  all  savage  nations,  health  is  found  to  be  the 
normal  condition  of  life ;  nevertheless,  as  there  are 


MEDICAL   PRACTJCE. 


145 


always  a  set  of  accidents  liable  to  result  from  contact 
with  wild  beasts,  noxious  reptiles,  and  intestine  wars, 
so  we  generally  find  the  "medicine-man,"  or  healer, 
an  appendage  even  to  the  rudest  forms  of  aboriginal 
man's  associations.  In  the  lowest  conditions  of  savage 
life,  the  attempts  to  repair  the  wrongs  inflicted  on  the 
body  by  accident  or  violence  are,  for  the  most  part, 
superstitious  rites  of  the  fetish  character;  and  where 
these  fail,  the  victim  is  left  to  perish,  or  offered  up  as 
a  propitiatory  sacrifice  to  some  hideous  fetish  deity; 
but  among  the  more  intelligent  tribes  of  wild  men, 
such,  for  instance,  as  the  North  American  Indians,  a 
regular  system  of  healing  by  herbs  and  medicinal  plants 
is  practiced  with  good  effect. 

Disease  per  se,  we  again  repeat,  is  unknown  among 
savage  tribes,  except  as  derived  from  contagious  contact 
with  civilized  men. 

Even  the  ordinary  processes  of  parturition  are  at- 
tended with  so  little  pain  or  inconvenience  that  no 
medical  skill,  and  scarcely  any  cessation  from  the  daily 
duties  of  daily  life,  is  demanded.  The  wild  woman, 
living  purely  under  simple  and  natural  influences, 
brings  forth  her  child  one  hour,  and  rejoins  her  com- 
panions, partaking  of  their  meals  and  sharing  their 
labors,  the  next. 

Thus  it  is  that  the  simple  surgery  which  the  medi- 
cine-man of  the  tribe  applies,  in  the  form  of  herbs  and 
roots,  for  the  cure  of  wounds,  bruises,  bites,  stings,  etc., 
bears  no  resemblance  whatever  to  the  complex  and 
elaborate  methods  by  which  the  scientific  physician 
is  called  upon  to  treat  the  various  forms  of  disease 
unknown  in  natural  conditions  of  life.  It  is  to  the 
r.  13 


I46  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

history  of  civilization,  therefore,  that  we  must  look  to 
trace  the  history  of  medicine.  There  is  no  doubt 
but  that  we  should  find  the  first  records  of  medical 
skill  existing  cotemporaneously  with  the  first  record  of 
a  demand  for  its  exercise  ;  but,  not  being  in  possession 
of  any  vestiges  of  this  very  primitive  state  of  society, 
we  must  content  ourselves  with  noting  the  character  of 
the  remedial  arts  practiced  by  the  historical  ancients. 

Among  the  Hindoos,  Egyptians,  Arabians,  and 
Eastern  nations  generally,  therapeutic  art  consisted  of 
a  mixture  of  animal  magnetism,  accompanied  by  su- 
perstitious rites,  such  as  prayers,  ceremonials,  the  con- 
secration and  wearing  of  amulets,  charms,  and  sacred 
objects.  Ablutions  and  purifications  were  abundantly, 
and,  of  course,  beneficially,  practiced  in  these  methods. 
Herbs,  roots,  and  waters  of  known  medicinal  quality 
were  also  parts  of  the  ancient  pharmacopoeia ;  but,  above 
all,  the  temple,  sleep  procured  by  aid  of  the  priests, 
and  assisted  by  narcotics  and  the  influence  of  soothing 
music,  were  means  of  restoration  abundantly  sought  for 
by  those  who  were  able  to  pay  for  them.  There  are 
constant  evidences  in  ancient  history  to  prove  that 
magnetism  as  evolved  from  the  loadstone,  minerals, 
metals,  and  crystals,  no  less  than  from  the  healthful 
manipulations  of  the  priests,  formed  a  large  part  of 
Eastern  therapeutics;  but,  as  we  have  before  dilated  on 
these  subjects  in  earlier  chapters,  it  would  be  needless 
to  dwell  upon  them  now. 

The  first  clearly-defined  account  we  have  of  regular 
medical  practice  among  the  Egyptians  is  supplied  by 
Herodotus,  who  writes  that  there  were  physicians  be- 
sides the  priests,  and  that  these  devoted  themselves  to 


MEDICAL    PRACTICE.  147 

the  cure  of  special  ailments  and  organs ;  so  that  there 
were  professors  of  the  healing  art  who  dealt  only  with 
diseases  of  the  eye;  others  who  administered  to  the 
stomach,  and  whose  system  consisted  mainly  of  purging 
and  emetics.  Some  mediciners  treated  solely  the  teeth, 
others  the  head,  and  others,  "mysterious  complaints, 
which  had  no  visible  source." 

The  Greeks  soon  outstripped  their  Egyptian  teachers 
in  the  practice  of  medicine,  and  it  is  from  them  that 
we  derive  the  most  prolific  accounts  of  the  state  of 
medical  science  in  the  periods  of  antiquity. 

The  practice  of  medicine  in  these  remote  periods  is 
chiefly  traceable  through  the  renowned  personages  with 
whose  names  it  is  associated.  One  of  the  earliest  and 
most  famous  mediciners  in  classical  lore  was  ^Esculapius, 
so  ofteJi  mentioned  as  the  god  of  medicine,  and  even 
mistaken  by  the  unlearned  for  a  mythical  personage 
altogether. 

Notwithstanding  the  fact,  however,  that  classical 
writers  assign  to  this  celebrated  individual  a  deific 
origin,  representing  him  as  the  son  of  Apollo,  with  a 
history  full  of  miraculous  events,  the  real  ^Esculapius 
was  a  mere  mortal,  with  human  parents  and  a  human 
posterity, — that  is,  if  we  can  credit  the  testimony  of 
Homer  and  Pindar,  both  of  whom  make  mention  of 
Machaon  and  Podalirus,  sons  of  ^Esculapius,  who 
fought  in  the  Trojan  war,  and,  like  their  father,  acted 
the  part  of  healers  to  the  sick  and  wounded. 

The  practice  of  y^sculapius  and  his  sons  was  only  in 
accordance  with  the  knowledge  of  the  times,  and  con- 
sisted of  a  strange  mixture  of  psychologic,  magnetic,  and 
therapeutic  remedies,  commingling  prayers  and  incan- 


I48  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

tations  with  drugs,  herbs,  and  draughts  in  which  pearls, 
corals,  and  precious  stones  had  been  ground  up ; 
also  an  important  part  of  their  system  was  gymnastic 
exercises.  That  ^Esculapius  was  considered  more 
than  ordinarily  inspired  is  proved  by  the  fact  that 
after  his  death  he  was  deified  as  a  god,  and  numer- 
ous temples  were  erected  in  his  honor,  the  most  famous 
of  which,  at  Epidaurtis  and  Rhodes,  became  renowned 
for  the  curative  marvels  performed  by  the  priests,  sup- 
posed to  be  instructed  in  the  mysteries  of  healing  by 
the  direct  presence  and  communion  of  "  the  god." 

The  practice  of  medicine  as  a  science  seems  to  have 
made  but  little  progress  until  the  time  of  Hippocrates, 
a  learned  Greek  physician  who  flourished  460  years 
B.  c.,  and  whose  attainments  in  his  art  were  so  far  in 
advance  of  all  his  predecessors  that  he  has  justly  been 
styled  "The  Father  of  Medicine." 

The  knowledge  which  Hippocrates  acquired  of  the 
human  system,  and  his  treatment  of  disease,  were  truly 
marvelous,  considering  the  age  in  which  he  lived. 
Dissections  of  the  dead  at  that  time  would  have  been 
considered  the  last,  worst  crime  of  which  mortals  could 
be  guilty;  yet  this  learned  man  had  acquired  such 
a  fair  knowledge  of  the  human  frame  that  his 
treatises  are  far  in  advance  of  his  age.  He  describes 
many  of  the  bones  correctly,  and  gives  valuable 
accounts  of  the  arteries,  trachea,  chest,  the  nature  of 
inflammation,  fevers,  and  the  leading  symptoms  of 
different  diseases.  In  his  methods  of  treatment,  Hip- 
pocrates seems  to  have  been  the  first  physician  of 
antiquity  who  insisted  on  the  value  of  appropriate 
diet  and  the  necessity  of  attending  to  the  temperature 


MEDICAL    PRACTICE. 


149 


of  the  sick-chamber.  Although  his  remedies  are  the 
corner-stones  of  the  "  heroic  school  "  of  practice,  such 
as  violent  purgatives,  bleedings,  scarifications,  cup- 
pings, etc.,  his  whole  system  is  such  an  improvement 
upon  the  superstitious  arts  of  priestly  therapeutics  that 
next  to  yEsculapius — of  whom  he  and  his  ancestors 
were,  for  many  generations,  devout  followers — Hip- 
pocrates may  truly  be  regarded  as  the  best  of  all  the 
ancient  mediciners. 

The  next  important  era  in  the  progress  of  medical 
art  dates  from  the  beginning  of  the  second  century, 
about  which  time  there  appeared  two  of  the  greatest 
lights  that  had  shone  on  this  department  of  science 
since  the  days  of  Hippocrates.  These  were  Aretasus, 
the  Cappadocian,  and  Galen  of  Pergamus.  Aretseus, 
the  senior  of  these  great  Therapeuts,  seems  to  have 
been  rather  the  founder  of  a  new  school  than  the 
follower  of  any  predecessor.  His  writings  are  largely 
intermixed  with  opinions  concerning  the  deep  influence 
which  the pneuma,  or  soul,  exercises  on  the  body.  He 
assumed  the  heart  to  be  the  central  seat  of  soul,  whilst 
the  liver  he  designated  as  the  centre  of  the  blood- 
currents.  He  describes  correctly  the  functions  of  the 
spleen,  stomach,  and  colon  ;  paid  much  attention  to  the 
kidneys;  accurately  defines  the  nature  of  glandular 
bodies  and  secretions;  and,  remembering  that  the 
superstitious  reverence  paid  by  the  Greeks  to  the  dead, 
prevented  all  chance  of  attaining  anatomical  knowl- 
edge through  any  other  channels  than  observation,  his 
scientific  perceptions  of  the  human  structure,  like  those 
of  Hippocrates,  were  truly  wonderful. 

Aretaeus  was  the  first  physician  who  distinctly  stated 
13* 


I5o  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

that  sensation  and  motion  resided  in  the  nerves. 
Moreover,  he  showed  that  nerve-fibres  in  the  brain 
crossed  each  other,  decussating,  as  he  described  it,  like 
the  Greek  letter  X,  whilst  the  fibres  of  the  spinal  cord, 
he  taught,  proceeded  at  once  to  the  particular  organs 
they  supplied.  He  assumed  that  all  the  white  tissues  of 
the  body  were  nerves,  and  thus  he  failed  to  recognize 
the  true  character  of  tendons  and  ligaments.  Although 
he  still  adhered  to  the  heroic  practice  of  his  predeces- 
sors, Aretaeus  urges  upon  physicians  the  necessity  of 
taking  hints  from  nature,  and  modifying  systems  to 
suit  particular  temperaments. 

In  Galen,  the  true  and  noble  founder  of  the  eclectic 
school,  the  world  found  at  once  a  philosopher  and  a 
physician.  Although  a  profound  student  of  all  the 
then  known  systems  of  medicine,  Galen  adhered  rigidly 
to  none,  but  contented  himself  with  appropriating  the 
best  of  each  and  adding  thereto  such  new  ideas  as  he 
derived  from  deep  study  and  extensive  experience. 
His  knowledge  of  anatomy  was  obtained  in  part  from 
dissections  of  apes  and  other  animals,  but  he  also  en- 
joyed some  opportunities  of  examining  the  human 
system,  since  he  describes  his  delight  at  finding  the 
body  of  an  unburied  criminal,  and  a  skeleton  which  he 
could  possess  himself  of  at  Alexandria.  His  definitions 
of  muscular  action  were  wonderfully  correct.  He 
made  many  discoveries,  too,  on  the  passage  of  the 
blood  through  the  veins,  and  taught  that  the  opinions 
of  old  anatomists  were  at  fault  when  they  assumed 
that  "animal  spirits,"  rather  than  functional  motions, 
propelled  the  fluids  of  the  body.  Galen  made  many 
valuable  physiological  discoveries,  and  though  there 


MEDICAL    PRACTICE.  I5I 

existed  rumors  that  his  operations  on  his  patients,  in 
surgical  cases,  were  frequently  conducted  for  the  sake 
of  experiment  rather  than  cure,  the  world  profited  by 
his  daring;  and  medical,  as  well  as  surgical  science, 
received  an  impetus  from  this  great  man  for  which  his 
name  deserves  to  be  immortalized.  It  would  be  useless 
now  to  analyze  the  theories  of  Galen,  advanced,  as  they 
were,  beyond  all  his  predecessors,  for,  whilst  his  ideas 
concerning  the  different  functions  of  motor  and  sensory 
nerves  were  correct,  his  descriptions  of  the  cranial 
nerves  were  confused  and  imperfect,  and  his  ideas 
about  the  vital  and  animal  functions  partake  of  the 
transcendentalism  of  his  time,  referring  all  unknown 
movements  to  elemental  and  spiritual  causes.  His 
lectures  on  anatomy,  at  Rome,  produced  such  a  furore 
that  the  jealousy  of  the  Roman  practitioners  eventually 
compelled  him  to  quit  that  city. 

His  written  treatises  were  most  voluminous,  and  for 
centuries  after  his  death  were  accepted  as  authority, 
even  by  scientists  far  in  advance  of  himself. 

From  the  days  of  Galen  to  the  tenth  century  the 
Greeks  continued  to  maintain  their  influence  over  the 
civilized  world  in  the  department  of  medical  science. 
After  that  era,  the  Arabian  physicians  took  the  lead  in 
general  estimation,  and  many  of  them,  especially  those 
who  devoted  themselves  to  the  study  of  alchemy,  ac- 
quired wide  renown  for  their  scientific  knowledge  and 
practices. 

The  speciality  of  the  Arabian  school  might  justly  be 
termed  chemistry.  Their  researches  into  the  chemical 
properties  of  drugs  and  minerals  were  carried  forward 
into  the  human  organism  and  the  vital  changes  which 


152  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

there  transpire.  They  introduced  many  new  and  valu- 
able remedies;  discovered  many  important  functional 
changes  in  the-body;  and  enlarged  the  circle  of  medi- 
cal knowledge  in  every  direction. 

The  history  of  the  Arabian  school  of  medicine  and 
chemistry  is  so  frequently  obscured  by  the  dreams  of 
the  alchemists  and  the  mystery  which  was  thrown 
around  their  researches  for  the  "philosopher's  stone," 
that  the  world  is  scarcely  aware  how  much  medical 
science  really  owes  to  the  discoveries  of  Arabian  sages. 
From  the  twelfth  century,  the  Italian  and  Spanish 
mediciners  to  a  great  extent  superseded  the  Orientals, 
and  the  fact  that  the  dissection  of  the  human  body  was 
first  publicly  allowed  and  practiced  at  Bologna,  in  the 
beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century,  tended  to  give 
the  Italian  school  a  pre-eminence  above  all  others. 

The  first  well-recognized  medical  school  that  flour- 
ished in  Europe  was  founded  in  the  seventh  century, 
at  Salerno.  Many  others  soon  followed,  and  the  study 
of  medicine  acquired  such  a  rapid  popularity  that  fine 
schools  of  medicine  were  attached  to  many  of  the 
European  universities.  In  the  fourteenth  century  there 
were  collegiate  institutions  of  this  character  at  Mont- 
pellier,  Vienna,  Bologna,  Paris,  Rome,  Padua,  Pavia, 
and  many  other  seats  of  learning  throughout  Europe. 

Up  to  the  time  when  the  physician's  art  became 
secularized  and  recognized  as  a  special  branch  of 
study  by  the  foundation  of  these  schools,  the  care  of 
attending  the  sick  had  chiefly  devolved  upon  the 
clergy.  In  Greece,  Rome,  and  Oriental  lands,  the 
offices  of  priest  and  physician  were  often,  but  not  in- 
variably, united;  but  in  Europe,  during  the  first  few 


MEDICAL   PRACTICE.  153 

centuries,  medical  art  and  its  practices  were  confined 
almost  entirely  to  monks  and  ecclesiastics.  As  these 
sacred  orders,  however,  were  forbidden  to  interfere 
with  any  operations  that  involved  the  shedding  of 
blood,  a  separate  branch  of  the  art  was  formed,  in- 
cluding cupping,  bleeding,  the  setting  of  bones,  reduc- 
tion of  fractures,  etc. ;  and  these  practices,  when  not 
of  a  very  dangerous  or  elaborate  character,  were  com- 
monly intrusted  to  the  barbers,  who,  by  their  famili- 
arity with  the  lancet  and  cupping-glass,  acquired  a 
considerable  share  of  skill  and  repute. 

It  was  from  the  distinctions  growing  out  of  sacred 
and  secular  practice  that  the  offices  of  the  surgeon  and 
physician  became  separated.  A  third  class  was  formed 
also  by  the  apothecary,  or  compounder  of  drugs,  and 
this  speciality  took  rise  from  the  Arabians,  who  were 
often  known  as  skillful  chemists  and  good  druggists, 
yet  they  did  not  always  possess  the  requisite  knowledge 
to  become  physicians  to  the  sick,  or  perform  surgical 
operations.  Thus,  then,  the  offices  of  physician,  sur- 
geon, and  apothecary  became  distinct  from  each  other, 
and  this  custom,  originating  in  the  specialities  of  primi- 
tive conditions,  has  continued  in  force  unto  the  present 
day. 

It  is  not  accurately  known  when  the  title  of  Doctor 
of  Physic  was  first  used.  We  find  it  commonly  applied 
to  physicians  in  the  fourteenth  century,  and  degrees  at 
that  time  were  regularly  conferred.  It  was  in  1422 
that  the  English  universities  obtained  a  decree  from 
government  that  "no  one  should  use  the  mystery  of 
physic  who  had  not  studied  it  in  an  university,  and 
taken  at  least  a  bachelor's  degree,  under  a  penalty  of 

G* 


154 


ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 


forty  pounds."  The  same  fine  was  inflicted  on  any 
woman  attempting  to  practice  the  "  mystery  of  physic." 

From  the  twelfth  to  the  seventeenth  centuries,  a  set 
of  men  arose  who  were  vaguely  known  as  alchemists, 
rosicrucians,  mystics,  etc.  These  persons,  who  were 
often  skillful  chemists  and  profound  students,  unfortu- 
nately served  to  retard  the  practice  of  medicine  as  a 
science  by  mixing  it  up  with  their  own  transcendental 
claims  to  have  discovered,  in  the  occult  realms  of  na- 
ture, profound  secrets,  the  application  of  which  would 
far  exceed  in  results  all  the  routine  practices  of  the 
schools.  Among  these  men  were  many  famed  for  their 
chemical  discoveries  and  spiritualistic  writings. 

Such  was  Cornelius  Agrippa,  the  famous  magician, 
in  reality  a  skillful  physician  and  an  expert  chemist. 
Thomas  Aquinas  and  Albertus  Magnus  were  of  the 
same  school,  and  the  wonders  of  magic  attributed  to 
them  were  obviously  results  obtained  by  their  chemical 
knowledge.  The  most  famed  of  these  middle-age 
wonder-workers,  however,  was  Paracelsus,  a  native  of 
Berne,  who  was  born  in  1493,  and  practiced  his  art  as 
a  regular  physician  for  many  years  at  Zurich.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  but  that  Paracelsus,  during  the  pro- 
gress of  his  alchemical  pursuits,  to  which  he  was  pas- 
sionately devoted,  succeeded  in  making  some  valuable 
discoveries  concerning  the  virtues  of  stones,  crystals, 
and  metals.  That  he  already  perceived  those  indica- 
tions which  in  subsequent  generations  led  to  the  con- 
struction of  galvanic  batteries  and  electrical  machines, 
is  evident  to  any  one  who  will  take  the  trouble  to 
peruse  his  voluminous  writings,  and  endeavor  to  dis- 
entangle— amidst  the  mass  of  verbiage  in  which  his 


MEDICAL    PRACTICE. 


155 


ideas  are  obscured — his  imaginings  concerning  his 
favorite  pursuit  of  alchemy  from  his  really  valuable  ob- 
servations on  the  galvanic  forces  existing  in  the  mineral 
world,  and  their  susceptibility  to  evolution  in  certain 
skillful  combinations.  Paracelsus,  despite  his  incom- 
prehensible claims  to  occult  science,  was  unquestion- 
ably an  accomplished  chemist,  and  in  the  progress  of 
his  researches  hit  upon  many  valuable  indications  of 
the  hidden  forces  of  galvanism  and  electricity. 

His  bold  assumptions  and  certain  successes  he 
achieved  in  the  healing  art,  procured  for  his  system  of 
practice  many  followers,  who  for  two  centuries  after  his 
death  continued  to  have  faith  in  him  as  the  founder 
of  a  "  new  school."  In  the  year  1526,  Paracelsus  was 
elected  Professor  of  Physics  and  Natural  Philosophy  at 
the  University  of  Basle,  and  here  he  became  so  popular 
by  his  eloquent  lectures  and  voluminous  writings  that 
his  system  bid  fair  to  supersede  all  others  then  known 
in  Europe.  By  way  of  showing  his  contempt  for  older 
authorities,  the  great  mystic  publicly  burned  the  writ- 
ings of  Galen  and  Avicenna.  In  violent  terms  he 
denounced  all  other  practitioners  than  himself,  and  all 
other  arts  than  his  own,  affirming  "  that  there  was 
more  knowledge  in  his  shoe-strings  than  in  all  the 
practitioners'  heads  of  all  the  European  universities." 

It  was  Paracelsus  that  brought  into  repute  the  use 
of  mercury  and  opium,  two  drugs  which  had  hitherto 
been  regarded  with  fear  and  used  with  extreme  caution, 
but  which  under  his  advice  were  largely  administered 
in  various  conditions  of  disease. 

Unfortunately  the  man  that  mixed  up  astrology  and 
medicine,  the  influence  of  "legions  of  spirits"  with 


156  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

blue  pill  and  the  elixir  vitas,  however  he  might  in  his 
own  person  succeed  in  temporarily  impressing  his  ad- 
mirers, could  not  fail  in  time  to  lose  his  hold  upon 
the  really  scientific  and  judgematical ;  hence  it  is  that 
we  find  his  career  as  an  acknowledged  leader  of  art 
soon  sinking  into  obscurity,  and  his  only  following 
confined  to  the  weak  and  imaginative,  and  especially 
to  such  as  still  clung  to  the  dreams  of  alchemy. 

It  is  true  that  Paracelsus  gave  some  check  to  the 
fossilization  of  old  and  conservative  ideas  in  medical 
practice.  Still  he  bequeathed  to  mankind  nothing 
more  really  valuable  than  suggestions  of  the  intimate 
though  mysterious  relations  subsisting  between  the 
worlds  of  visible  and  invisible  existences.  In  later 
years,  "mystics"  of  a  still  more  exalted  character  and 
less  arrogant  pretensions  than  Paracelsus  assumed  to 
cure  diseases  by  occult  means,  and  the  aid  of  invis- 
ible forces  and  powers.  Probably  the  succession  of 
these  persons  would  have  increased  and  continued  to 
the  present  day,  had  not  the  really  scientific  acumen 
of  Mesmer  resolved  the  problem  of  the  "philosopher's 
stone,"  by  the  discovery  of  mineral  and  animal  mag- 
netism. 

To  return,  however,  to  my  review  of  the  actual  pro- 
gress of  medical  science  in  the  direction  of  material  facts. 

Perhaps  the  most  important  era  that  ever  dawned 
upon  medical  art  was  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, when  a  bold  and  learned  anatomist  named  Vesa- 
lius  arose,  who,  despite  the  obloquy  that  still  attached 
to  the  study  of  the  human  structure  from  dead  matter, 
pursued  his  researches  in  the  dissecting-room  so  thor- 
oughly that  many  of  the  most  important  functions  of 


MEDICAL   PRACTICE. 


'57 


the  human  body  were  brought  to  light,  and  a  rapid 
imjx^tus  was  communicated  to  the  progress  of  anatom- 
ical knowledge.  The  most  stupendous  discovery  of 
this  kind,  however,  that  the  period  chronicles,  was  that 
of  William  Harvey,  of  England,  the  celebrated  physi- 
ologist, who  first  arrived  at  the  conclusion  of  the  cir- 
culation of  the  blood. 

Harvey  was  born  in  the  year  1578,  and  having  been 
carefully  educated  in  a  fine  school  of  medicine  at 
Padua,  and  acquired  an  excellent  reputation  for  his 
skill  as  an  anatomist  and  lecturer  in  his  own  country, 
he  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  College  of  Phy- 
sicians, and  received  the  honorable  appointment  of 
chief  physician  to  Bartholomew's  Hospital  in  London. 

It  was  in  a  lecture  on  anatomy  given  before  the 
Hospital  Faculty,  in  1615,  that  Harvey  brought  for 
the  first  time  to  public  notice  his  famous  theory  of  the 
circulation  of  the  blood,  and  the  functions  of  the  heart 
as  the  centre  of  the  circulatory  system. 

According  to  the  highest  authorities  of  the  day,  the 
opinions  of  anatomists  before  Harvey's  time  were 
these.  It  was  assumed  that  the  blood  was  distributed 
to  various  parts  of  the  body  by  the  veins,  whilst  the 
arteries  were  only  the  passages  for  "vital  spirits" 
formed  of  the  air  and  blood  transmitted  from  the  lungs 
to  the  left  side  of  the  heart.  How  the  blood  passed 
from  one  side  of  the  heart  to  the  other,  got  into  the 
lungs,  or  became  propelled  through  the  veins,  were 
points  of  opinion  disputed  with  great  vehemence  by  the 
advocates  of  conflicting  theories.  Harvey  seems  to 
have  favored  none  of  the  views  of  the  popular  theorists, 
borrowed  from  none,  disputed  with  none. 
1 4 


158  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

His  opinions  were  derived  solely  from  his  own  care- 
fully-conducted observations  and  dissections. 

Experiments  also  on  living  animals  were  then,  as 
now,  a  means  of  informing  the  scientist  of  the  motions 
transpiring  in  vital  organs,  and  from  all  these  sources 
Harvey  evolved  his  famous  theory  of  fluidic  circulation. 
In  conversing  with  Boyle,  a  celebrated  medical  writer 
of  the  day,  Harvey  is  reported  to  have  said  that  his 
belief  in  his  circulatory  theory  was  first  suggested  to  his 
mind  by  speculating  upon  the  uses  of  the  valves  of 
the  heart.  The  more  he  considered  their  nature  and 
functions,  the  more  apparent  it  seemed  that  they  were 
designed  to  permit  the  passage  of  the  blood  one  way, 
but  to  impede  its  return  by  the  same  channel.  Harvey 
explains,  with  all  the  candor  of  true  science,  the  meth- 
ods of  observation  by  which  he  arrived  at  his  conclu- 
sions, and  the  various  premises  on  which  they  were 
founded.  His  researches  were  conducted  on  both  warm- 
and  cold-blooded  living  animals,  besides  which,  this 
careful  student  drew  deductions  from  dead  matter, 
speculating  on  the  obvious  uses  for  which  certain  parts 
and  organs  seemed  to  be  designed.  He  compared  these 
with  living  structures,  found  them  to  agree,  and  hence 
evolved  a  theory  whose  completeness  is  now  acknowl- 
edged by  every  true  scientist  to  be  little  short  of  a 
revelation. 

Notwithstanding  the  immense  value  of  Harvey's 
great  discovery,  and  the  frank  and  irresistible  proofs 
with  which  he  sustained  his  positions,  the  bigotry  of 
old  conservative  modes  of  thought,  and  the  pitiful 
jealousy  which  ever  seems  to  arise  in  the  minds  of  rival 
practitioners,  combined  to  crush  the  great  scientist,  and 


MEDICAL   PRACTICE.  159 

cloud  his  theories  with  distrustful  whispers  and  con- 
temptuous denials.  Superstition,  too,  lent  her  baleful 
aid  to  darken  the  path  of  knowledge  which  the  pro- 
found physician  had  opened  up.  Old  friends  forsook 
him  his  ;  practice  fell  off;  a  popular  impression  pre- 
vailed among  the  vulgar  that  he  had  purchased  unlaw- 
ful secrets  from  evil  sources,  and  among  the  better  edu- 
cated it  was  currently  reported  that  he  had  tortured 
his  patients,  and  resorted  to  the  most  unscrupulous 
practices  to  arrive  at  the  hidden  mysteries  of  the  life- 
processes  so  strangely  revealed  by  him.  It  was  difficult, 
too,  to  shake  the  long-cherished  opinions  which  had 
been  traditionally  held  as  correct  by  the  medical  faculty, 
and  Harvey  himself  declares,  in  his  writings,  that  after 
the  publication  of  his  famous  treatise  on  the  circulation 
of  the  blood  "  there  was  not  a  practitioner  of  more 
than  forty  years  old  who  credited  him."  For  some 
time  Harvey  felt  too  much  disgusted  with  the  igno- 
rance and  ingratitude  of  the  race  he  sought  to  benefit 
to  communicate  more  of  his  valuable  discoveries  to  the 
world  ;  but  the  afflatus  of  true  genius  was  upon  him. 
He  must  think,  write,  and  publish,  as  a  part  of  the  usury 
required  for  the  possession  of  every  great  talent.  The 
irresistible  pressure  of  ideas  compelled  still  further 
efforts  and  still  more  sacrifices. 

He  gave  to  the  age  his  remarkable  treatises  on 
generation,  illustrated  by  the  embryonic  life  and 
development  of  certain  animals,  and  again  the  theorist 
who  dared  to  advance  one  step  out  of  the  beaten  tracks 
of  thought  became  the  subject  of  vituperative  attack 
and  unworthy  criticism. 

William  Harvey  acted  in  the  capacity  of  physician- 


160  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

in-ordinary  to  James  the  First  and  Charles  the  First 
of  England,  and  when  the  dethronement  and  death  of 
his  last  royal  master  threw  him  out  of  office,  his  house 
was  plundered  and  many  of  his  valuable  writings  sacri- 
ficed in  flames  to  the  intolerant  zeal  of  political 
factions. 

Retiring  at  last  to  a  peaceful  retreat  in  the  country, 
the  fine  old  scientist  closed  his  long  and  useful  life  at 
the  age  of  eighty  years,  leaving  behind  him  an  immense 
collection  of  published  works,  and  ONE  IDEA,  at  least, 
which  in  point  of  physiological  importance  surrounds 
his  name  with  a  halo  of  well-earned  and  undying 
fame. 

The  history  of  medical  science  in  the  eighteenth 
century  presents  us  with  such  an  illustrious  record  of 
great  names  and  personages  whose  services  to  the 
scientific  world  demand  honorable  remembrance,  that 
we  are  obliged  to  select,  from  the  many,  two  or  three 
representatives  only.  We  shall  speak,  then,  of  three  in 
particular  to  whom  the  progress  of  medical  science  is 
largely  indebted,  and  whose  labors  made  a  special 
mark  upon  the  age. 

The  first  of  this  celebrated  trio  is  Albert  von  Haller, 
a  physician,  born  at  Berne,  in  Switzerland,  in  the 
beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century.  The  speciality  of 
this  great  man's  industrious  researches  was  physiologi- 
cal discoveries  concerning  muscular  contractility  and 
nervous  irritability. 

Besides  his  medical  skill,  Haller  was  a  man  of  the 
most  profoundly  scientific  attainments,  and  had 
mastered  many  branches  of  natural  philosophy.  To 
him  the  subject  of  vital  phenomena  and  the  problems 


MEDICAL   PRACTICE.  X6i 

connected  with  the  mysterious  functions  of  life  were 
themes  of  all-absorbing  interest.  He  brought  to  bear 
on  these  questions  all  the  knowledge  of  the  natural 
sciences  which  he  had  gathered  up  in  other  studies,  and 
though  we  cannot  now,  perhaps,  point  to  any  work  of 
Haller's  which  is  accepted  as  a  medical  text-book,  his 
influence  in  disabusing  the  age  of  many  popular  errors, 
and  explaining  multitudes  of  the  mysteries  which  had 
heretofore  obscured  the  study  of  anatomy  and  physi- 
ology, conferred  upon  all  time  a  lasting  benefit,  and 
aided,  far  beyond  our  limited  chances  of  acknowledg- 
ment, the  better  understanding  of  medical  science, 
especially  in  the  department  of  physiological  knowl- 
edge. 

The  two  next  and  last  worthies  of  this  period  of 
whom  our  space  will  permit  us  to  speak  in  this  chapter 
were  the  brothers  William  and  John  Hunter,  names 
clear  to  every  lover  of  science,  and  honored  in  every 
society  where  the  beneficent  uses  of  medical  skill  are 
fairly  appreciated.  These  men  were  both  natives  of 
Scotland,  and  born  in  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  William,  the  elder,  was  first  educated  for  the 
church,  but  turning  his  attention  to  medicine,  and 
being  found  by  his  instructors  endowed  with  remark- 
able talents  in  this  direction,  he  was  permitted  to  follow 
the  bent  of  his  inclinations  and  pursue  the  medical 
profession.  In  the  course  of  his  collegiate  career,  he 
formed  a  life-long  friendship  for  the  celebrated  William 
Cullen,  who  was  established  as  surgeon  and  apothecary 
at  the  University  of  Edinburgh,  where  Hunter  was  a 
student.  On  the  completion  of  his  studies,  Hunter 
was  taken  into  partnership  with  Cullen,  and  the  two, 
14* 


162  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

each  in  their  different  branches  of  practice,  attained  to 
the  highest  celebrity  of  their  time.  Hunter  selected 
for  his  specialty  the  department  of  midwifery,  and  as 
a  discoverer,  writer,  and  practitioner  in  obstetrics,  it 
is  said  that  no  man  ever  equaled  or  has  since  exceeded 
him.  Honors  were  showered  thickly  upon  him,  and 
a  large  fortune  accrued  from  the  wonderful  successes  of 
his  practice.  His  works  are  still  text-books  on  the 
subject  of  obstetrics,  the  value  of  which  have  not 
diminished  by  age. 

John  Hunter,  the  younger  brother,  commenced  his 
career  in  the  humble  capacity  of  assistant  to  Dr.  William 
in  the  dissecting-room.  Pursuing  his  studies  with  inde- 
fatigable diligence  and  research  at  many  of  the  London 
hospitals,  and  subsequently  going  abroad  to  serve  as  an 
army  surgeon,  he  ultimately  became  no  less  famous 
than  his  elder  brother,  although  in  a  different  depart- 
ment of  medical  practice. 

After  his  return  to  England,  John  Hunter  was  elected 
a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society,  and  subsequently  be- 
came surgeon  to  St.  George's  Hospital.  In  the  zenith 
of  his  reputation  the  most  distinguished  scholars  re- 
sorted to  him  for  opinions,  and  his  pupils  were  num- 
bered among  the  most  aristocratic  families  in  the  land. 
The  celebrated  Edward  Jenner  and  Sir  Everhard  Home 
studied  with  John  Hunter,  and  the  sister  of  the  baro- 
net subsequently  became  the  great  surgeon's  wife. 

Although  Mr.  Hunter  achieved  an  immortal  reputa- 
tion as  a  practitioner  and  the  author  of  many  valuable 
works  on  anatomy,  surgery,  etc.,  his  chief  benefaction 
to  the  world  at  his  death  was  a  superb  anatomical 
museum,  containing  upwards  of  ten  thousand  prepara- 


MEDICAL   PRACTICE.  163 

tions,  illustrative  of  medical  science  and  natural  his- 
tory. 

It  would  require  far  more  space  than  we  can  allot 
even  to  enumerate  the  treasures  of  art  bequeathed  to 
the  world  by  the  two  Hunters.  It  had  been  the  aim 
of  Dr.  William  to  found  a  national  anatomical  museum, 
and  besides  tendering  to  the  government  his  splendid 
collection  of  models,  preparations,  etc.,  he  had  offered 
to  contribute  seven  thousand  pounds  sterling  in  money. 
The  parsimony  of  those  in  office  would  not  allow  them 
even  to  grant  the  noble  old  man  a  piece  of  land  on 
which  to  build  his  proposed  museum.  He  purchased  a 
place  for  himself,  therefore,  built  a  museum  and  dis- 
secting-room at  his  own  expense,  and  furnished  it  with 
the  rarest  specimens  of  art  that  the  age  could  show. 
Thirty  years  after  his  death  this  grand  repository  of 
treasures  was  removed  by  the  terms  of  his  will  to  the 
University  of  Glasgow,  where  it  remains  the  gift  of  a 
private  individual  to  a  nation  not  magnanimous  enough 
to  acquire  it  at  its  own  expense.  John  Hunter's  mu- 
seum, which  is,  in  itself,  a  gigantic  monument  of  talent 
and  industry,  was  sold,  at  his  death,  to  defray  the 
enormous  expenses  of  its  collection,  and  in  aid  of  his 
family's  support.  It  was  purchased  by  the  Royal  Col- 
lege of  Surgeons,  London,  at  an  outlay  of  fifteen 
thousand  pounds,  and  in  this  establishment  it  remains 
a  wonderful  testimony  of  the  power  of  one  individual 
to  contribute  stores  of  useful  knowledge  enough  to 
bless  and  enlighten  many  generations  of  men. 

NOTE  TO  CHAPTER  IX. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  we  have  pointed  in  this  chapter  to  the 
distinctions  drawn  by  the  force  of  circumstances  between  the  thre^ 


1 64  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

classes  of  medical  practice,  entitled,  Physician,  Surgeon,  and  Apothe- 
cary. In  England,  and  indeed  throughout  Europe  generally,  the  title 
of  "doctor"  only  accompanies  the  physician's  degree,  and  surgeons 
and  apothecaries  (unless  they  have  taken  that  degree)  are  only  called 
"doctor"  by  courtesy.  The  reader  will  remark  that  the  title  of 
"  doctor"  was  not  given  in  the  text  even  to  the  renowned  surgeon,  Mr. 
John  Hunter,  nor  would  any  truly  scientific  practitioner  in  Europe 
deem  himself  honored  by  the  acquisition  of  any  title  which  did  not 
legitimately  apply  to  him.  These  points  of  professional  etiquette  are 
commended  to  the  notice  of  the  American  medical  faculty,  especially 
to  those  whose  "  doctors'  degrees"  are  so  often  self-imposed,  and  not 
unfrequently  upon  the  ground  of  selling  quack  nostrums  or  peddling 
about  patent  pills. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

THE  STATUS  OF  MEDICAL  PRACTICE  FROM  1750  TO  1873. 

THERE  are  many  noble  names  necessarily  omitted  in 
our  former  chapter  on  the  medical  profession,  from  the 
total  impossibility  of  crowding  up  a  work  of  this  lim- 
ited character  with  any  records  but  those  which  are 
essential  to  the  unfoldment  of  the  principles  on  which 
it  is  written.  As  this  and  the  last  chapter  is  all  the 
space  that  we  can  allot  to  such  a  record,  we  must  con- 
tent ourselves  with  adding  but  a  few  more  sketches  of 
eminent  medical  practitioners  to  the  list  already  given. 
Having  mentioned  the  name  of  Dr.  Edward  Jenner  as 
a  pupil  of  Mr.  John  Hunter,  it  may  not  be  out  of 
place  to  offer  some  remarks  on  the  peculiar  nature  of 
the  discovery  with  which  his  reputation  is  always  asso- 
ciated, namely,  the  practice  of  vaccination. 

Dr.  Jenner  was  born  in  Gloucestershire,  England,  in 
the  year  1749,  and,  after  studying  surgery  with  Mr. 
John  Hunter,  took  his  degree  as  a  physician  at  St. 
Andrew's  University. 

Dr.  Jenner's  specialty  being  so  marked,  however, 
as  the  author  of  the  vaccination  practice,  we  may  con- 
fine our  attention  to  the  circumstances  in  which  his 
great  discovery  originated. 

It  is  said  that  whilst  Dr.  Jenner  was  practicing  at  a 
village  called  Sudbury,  he  heard  a  country-woman 

165 


c66  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

observe  that  she  could  not  take  the  smallpox,  as  she 
had  already  received  it  from  a  cow  which  she  had  been 
milking.  Struck  with  the  singularity  of  this  remark, 
the  physician  pursued  his  inquiries  among  the  people 
of  that  district,  and  found  that  the  opinion  prevailed 
universally,  that  whenever  any  one  imbibed  a  certain 
form  of  irruptive  disease  to  which  cows  are  subject, 
they  would  thereafter  be  free  from  all  liability  to  suffer 
with  smallpox.  Following  up  the  ideas  thus  curiously 
received,  Dr.  Jenner  pursued  a  long  and  patient  course 
of  experiments,  the  results  of  which  were  conclusive  to 
his  mind  that  one  particular  kind  of  irruptive  disease 
to  which  cows  are  subject  could  be  communicated  to 
the  human  body,  and  that  its  action  would  thereafter, 
as  he  deemed,  prevent  the  liability  to  smallpox.  It  is 
quite  needless  in  this  place  to  contend  for  or  against 
the  value  of  Dr.  Jenner's  discovery,  nor  yet  to  argue 
on  the  successes  or  failures  of  its  practice.  It  is 
enough  that  it  has  been  more  widely  received  and 
stringently  enforced  than  any  other  medical  theory 
that  the  annals  of  history  record. 

If  the  plague  entitled  the  smallpox  had  indeed  been 
effectually  subdued  by  vaccination,  and  again,  if  it 
were  an  ascertained  fact  that  no  other  forms  of  disease 
had  been  engrafted  on  the  human  structure  by  the  act 
of  vaccination,  Dr.  Jenner's  name  might  well  stand 
foremost  in  the  list  of  earth's  benefactors;  but  as 
opinions  are  by  no  means  unanimous  on  these  most 
important  points,  it  is  enough  that  we  leave  to  time — 
the  touch-stone  of  truth — the  final  decision  of  the 
question,  and  simply  advert  to  Dr.  Jenner  as  the  author 
of  a  system  which  maintains  such  a  deep  and  wide- 


THE  STATUS   OF  MEDICAL    PRACTICE.       ^7 

spread  hold  upon  the  customs  of  civilization  to  this 
day.  The  high  estimation  in  which  Dr.  Jenner's  dis- 
covery was  held  by  government  is  testified  to  by  the 
fact,  that  grants  of  ten,  and  subsequently  of  twenty, 
thousand  pounds  were  voted  to  him  in  Parliament,  and 
that  his  name  is  cited  by  a  large  majority  of  the  civilized 
world  as  one  of  the  greatest  benefactors  to  the  human 
race  that  ever  lived.  If  contrary  and  very  antagonistic 
opinions  on  the  value  of  his  discovery  are  now  becom- 
ing widely  prevalent,  Jenner  himself  did  not  live  to 
realize  them,  as  he  died  in  1823,  in  the  full  tide  of  a 
world-wide  popularity. 

The  path  of  discovery  in  science  is  not  always  that 
of  progress,  nor  are  the  progressionists  of  life  invariably 
the  outworkers  of  new  ideas.  Hahnemann,  Mesmer, 
Gall,  Spurzheim,  Galvani,  Volta,  Franklin,  and  many 
others,  too  illustrious  to  be  forgotten,  but  too  numerous 
to  mention,  all  stand  forward  in  bold  relief  in  the 
history  of  ideas  as  original  discoverers.  In  this  cate- 
gory Jenner  himself  may  take  his  place  with  propriety, 
but  in  the  mean  time  the  gradual  and  beneficent  unfold- 
ments  of  practical  science  in  medicine  owe  quite  as 
much  to  the  talented  men  who  utilize  and  apply  ideas, 
as  to  those  who  first  discover  them.  Among  these 
practical  benefactors  to  the  race  we  may  class  the 
venerable  Abernethy,  Sir  Astley  Cooper,  the  celebrated 
brothers  Charles  and  John  Bell,  Bransby  Cooper,  Sir 
Benjamin  Brodie,  Listen,  and  hosts  of  others  scarcely 
less  distinguished. 

None  of  these  eminent  gentlemen  can  be  termed 
discoverers  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  term, — that  is,  they 
invented  no  new  system,  made  no  startling  revelation 


1 68  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

of  new  truths  in  their  several  departments  of  science, — 
yet  each  of  them  wrought  marvels  for  the  advancement 
of  their  art,  and  left  the  world  so  much  better  than 
they  found  it,  that  they  are  well  entitled  to  the  highest 
place  in  human  appreciation.  Sir  Astley  Cooper  in 
especial,  retains  his  hold  upon  the  grateful  remembrance 
of  his  age. 

His  works,  entitled  "  Medical  Records  and  Re- 
searches," his  great  treatise  on  "  Hernia,"  his  bold,  ori- 
ginal, and  magnificent  new  operations,  the  many  in- 
stances in  which  his  excellent  treatments  superseded 
the  use  of  the  knife,  and  the  invariable  kindness,  cour- 
tesy, and  humanity  of  his  beneficent  nature,  endeared 
him  to  all  his  cotemporaries,  and  procured  him  honors 
and  distinctions  almost  unparalleled  in  his  profession. 
It  is  said  that  at  one  time  his  income,  derived  from  his 
immense  reputation  as  the  most  original  and  yet  suc- 
cessful surgeon  that  ever  lived,  exceeded  twenty-one 
thousand  pounds  per  annum. 

George  the  Fourth  employed  him  to  perform  a  diffi- 
cult and  dangerous  operation,  which  having  been  at- 
tended with  his  usual  success,  caused  the  monarch  to 
confer  upon  him  the  unprecedented  and  distinguished 
title  of  a  baronetcy,  a  dignity  now  enjoyed  by  his 
nephew  and  heir,  Sir  Astley  Cooper  the  younger.  Many 
literary  works  of  the  highest  excellence  were  given  to 
the  world  by  Sir  Astley  Cooper,  but  the  specialty  of 
his  life  was  his  own  splendid  success  as  a  surgeon. 

Dr.  Forbes,  an  eminent  medical  writer,  says  of 
Cooper:  "Before  his  time  operations  were  too  often 
frightful  alternatives  or  hazardous  compromises,  and 
they  were  not  seldom  considered  rather  as  the  resource 


THE  STATUS   OF  MEDICAL   PRACTICE.       iCg 

of  despair  than  as  a  means  of  remedy.  He  always 
made  them  follow,  as  it  were,  in  a  natural  course  of 
treatment :  he  gave  them  a  scientific  character,  divest- 
ing them  of  their  terrors  by  performing  them  unosten- 
tatiously, simply,  confidently,  and  cheerfully,  thereby 
inspiring  the  patient  with  hope  of  relief  where  pre- 
viously resignation  had  been  all  that  the  sufferer  could 
command." 

Of  all  the  modern  celebrities  whose  name  is  most 
frequently  cited  to  point  an  anecdote  or  illustrate  a 
quaint  saying,  none  is  more  frequently  in  men's  mouths 
than  the  eccentric  Aberncthy. 

This  distinguished  surgeon  was  a  pupil  of  John 
Hunter's,  and  flourished  at  the  same  epoch  with  his 
great  teacher.  His  qualities  as  a  successful  operator, 
fine  surgeon,  and  profound  writer  are  unquestionable. 
He  is  also  said  to  have  been  remarkable  for  the  dignity 
of  his  bearing  in  the  lecture-room,  his  great  learning, 
and  uncommon  lucidity  as  a  teacher  of  anatomy  and 
physiology.  Dr.  Latham,  one  of  his  most  enthusiastic 
followers  and  biographers,  says:  "  He  so  eloquently  ex- 
pounded some  of  the  highest  truths  of  science,  so  nicely 
disentangled  the  perplexities  of  abstruse  subjects,  and 
made  that  so  easy  which  was  before  so  difficult,  that  every 
man  who  heard  him  feels,  perhaps,  to  this  day  that  for 
some  of  the  most  important  points  of  his  knowledge  he 
is  indebted  to  Mr.  Abernethy.  It  seems  strange  that 
in  connection  with  a  public  life  of  indefatigable  uses 
and  a  private  character  held  in  the  highest  estimation 
by  all  his  friends  and  acquaintances,  Mr.  Abernethy 
should  seem  to  have  studied  how  to  succeed  best  in 
making  himself  personally  disagreeable  to  his  patients. 
"  '5 


170 


ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 


The  many  anecdotes  current  of  his  rudeness  and 
brusquerie  may  be,  and  in  all  probability  are,  much 
exaggerated  ;  but  it  is  quite  certain  that  he  took  pains 
to  veil  the  real  excellencies  of  his  character  by  a  coarse, 
rude  exterior  to  his  patients;  indeed,  his  abrupt  man- 
ners seemed  to  have  had  their  influence  in  setting  an 
unfavorable  example  to  many  of  his  successors,  and  to 
have  started  the  paradoxical  idea  that  to  be  a  great  sur- 
geon it  is  necessary  to  be  a  great  brute,  and  to  obtain 
a  reputation  for  skill  in  medicine  it  is  advisable  to  go 
to  school  to  a  bear.  In  these  respects  no  two  human 
beings  seem  to  have  formed  a  stronger  contrast  than 
the  amiable  Sir  Astley  Cooper  and  the  ungenial  Mr. 
Abernethy.  Both,  however,  made  a  deep  and  important 
mark  upon  their  time  and  generation,  and  the  world  of 
medical  science  is  vastly  indebted  to  both  for  their 
achievements  in  art,  their  admirable  teachings,  and 
valuable  writings. 

Physiological  students  remember  with  ever-increasing 
gratitude  and  interest  the  names  of  Bichat,  an  eminent 
French  physiologist,  born  in  1771,  and  Sir  Charles 
Bell,  the  illustrious  Scotch  physiologist,  born  in  1774. 

To  both  these  great  observers,  writers,  and  thinkers 
medical  science  owes  revelations  concerning  the  brain, 
nervous  system,  and  the  functions  of  human  life  which 
can  never  be  too  highly  appreciated. 

Without  entering  in  detail  upon  the  physiological 
researches  of  Bichat  and  Sir  Charles  Bell,  it  is  enough 
to  say  that,  since  their  writings  and  teachings  were  given 
to  the  world,  much  of  the  mystery  of  the  nervous  appa- 
ratus and  its  functions  has  been  cleared  away,  and  with- 
out them  the  physiologist  would  still  be  in  profound 


THE  STATUS   OF  MEDICAL   PRACTICE.       171 

darkness  concerning  many  most  important  branches  of 
knowledge  in  regard  to  nervous  action  and  other  impor- 
tant physiological  movements  of  the  human  structure. 
John  Bell,  the  brother  of  Sir  Charles,  acquired  a  great 
reputation  as  a  surgeon,  and  his  anatomical  treatises  are 
highly  esteemed  by  scientists,  but  the  brilliant  lustre 
of  his  brother's  renown  as  a  physiologist  serves  to  ob- 
scure rather  than  to  illuminate  the  services  of  this  really 
profound  and  talented  surgeon. 

It  is  now  time  that  we  should  make  mention  of  one  who, 
though  by  no  means  connected  with  the  progress  of  med- 
ical science,  has  developed  a  theory  which  cannot  fail  to 
throw  light  at  some  future  time  upon  the  mysterious  re- 
lations between  mind  and  matter,  and  contribute  valu- 
able suggestions  to  the  realm  of  physiological  as  well  as 
psychological  science. 

We  speak  of  the  phrenological  discoveries  of  Dr. 
Gall,  a  great  and  learned  scientist,  who  was  born  in 
Suabia  in  the  year  1758. 

Dr.  Gall  commenced  his  remarkable  observations 
upon  the  association  of  special  characteristics  of  mind 
with  certain  cranial  developments  in  his  earliest  school- 
days. He  often  used  to  describe  in  later  years  how 
invariably  he  was  beaten  in  his  studies  by  those  of  his 
school  companions  whom  he  called  "bull-eyed  fellows." 
His  wonderful  tact  in  describing  character,  and  associ- 
ating its  indications  with  facial  and  cranial  peculiarities, 
procured  for  him  quite  a  reputation,  whether  at  school, 
college,  or  wheresoever  he  went. 

Studying  medicine  at  Vienna,  he  became  alternately 
feared  and  applauded  by  all  his  associates  for  his 
invaluable  exactitude  in  the  delineation  of  character. 


172 


ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 


Following  up  his  experimental  observations  from  living 
faces  and  heads  to  the  dissection  of  human  and  animal 
brains,  Gall  at  length  evolved  a  system  which,  in  his 
own  experience  at  least,  proved  as  correct  as  it  was 
wonderful  to  all  who  heard  his  lectures  and  followed  the 
course  of  his  astonishing  delineations. 

In  1800  Dr.  Gall  received  as  a  pupil  Dr.  Spurzheim, 
and  the  extraordinary  capacity  of  this  great  scientist 
for  mastering  and  enlarging  upon  his  instructor's  views 
rendered  their  names  a  synonym,  so  invariably  associ- 
ated together  that  it  is  difficult  to  say  to  which  the 
most  elaborate  treatises  upon  phrenology  are  really  due. 

The  new  science  was  at  first  received  with  immense 
enthusiasm  by  all  classes,  and  the  learning  of  Spurzheim 
and  the  fascinating  eloquence  of  Gall  succeeded  in  win- 
ning converts  among  the  most  profound  thinkers,  as  well 
as  in  the  salons  of  fashion.  The  tide  of  popular  favor, 
however,  received  a  temporary  check  from  the  adverse 
report  pronounced  against  phrenology  by  the  savants 
of  the  French  Institute,  whom  Napoleon  Bonaparte 
most  unwisely  commissioned  to  inquire  into  its  merits. 

As  this  Institute,  like  other  learned  bodies,  had  most 
commonly  pronounced  against  all  new  ideas  which  did 
not  originate  from  its  own  members,  the  dictum  did 
not  annihilate  the  claims  of  Gall  and  Spurzheim,  nor 
long  continue  to  dim  their  reputation,  and  in  all  prob- 
ability, at  this  day,  nobody  knows  or  nobody  cares 
whether  the  Institute  indorsed  or  denounced  them  at  all. 
The  learned  Germans  kept  their  onward  course,  and 
though  the  science  of  medicine  has  not  as  yet  benefited 
by  their  suggestive  theories,  that  of  psychology  has, 
and  in  some  more  fully  unfolded  condition  of  the  art, 


THE  STATUS   Of  MEDICAL    PRACTICE. 


173 


there  can  be  no  doubt  that  important  results  to  physi- 
ological diagnoses  will  arise  from  a  connection  of  this 
and  all  other  kindred  forms  of  science.  It  only  remains 
for  us  now  to  notice  the  entrance  upon  the  scene  of 
the  learned  Hahnemann,  whose  system  of  homoeopathic 
practice  almost  divides  the  palm  with  that  of  allopathy. 

Dr.  Samuel  Hahnemann  was  born  in  Upper  Saxony, 
in  1755.  He  was  educated  for  the  medical  profession 
at  Leipsic,  and  practiced  for  many  years  with  distin- 
guished success  and  high  repute.  It  is  confidently 
affirmed  that  Dr.  Hahnemann  had  long  cherished  a 
feeling  of  deep  dissatisfaction  with  the  practices  of  allo- 
pathy before  he  chanced  upon  his  own  great  discovery. 

Report  also  alleges  that  he  felt  deeply  the  responsi- 
bility which  belongs  to  the  medical  practitioner,  and 
so  keenly  realized  the  failure  of  drugs  to  restore  the 
disturbed  system  in  disease  that  he  was  accustomed  to 
put  on  mourning  whenever  a  patient  died,  and  accuse 
himself  of  every  failure  in  his  treatment,  as  if  he  were 
responsible  for  the  lives  of  those  under  his  care. 

As  it  would  not  be  possible  in  this  place  to  give  any 
extended  account  of  homoeopathy,  whilst  the  system 
itself  is  too  widely  accepted  to  be  dismissed  with  a 
mere  passing  notice,  we  shall  add  an  extract  from  Dr. 
Stratten's  preface  to  the  first  edition  of  the  English 
translation  of  Hahnemann's  "Organon." 

Speaking  of  the  illustrious  founder  of  the  system, 
Dr.  Stratten  says, — 

"A  most  accurate  observer,  a  skillful  experimenter, 

and  an  indefatigable  searcher  after  truth,  he  appeared 

formed  by  nature  for  the  investigation  and  improvement 

of  medical  science.     On  commencing  the  study  of 

15* 


174 


ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 


medicine,  he  soon  became  disgusted  with  the  mass  of 
contradictory  assertions  and  theories  which  then  existed. 
He  found  everything  in  this  department  obscure,  hypo- 
thetical, and  vague,  and  resolved  to  abandon  the  med- 
ical profession.  Having  been  previously  engaged  in 
the  study  of  chemistry,  he  determined  on  translating 
into  his  native  language  the  best  English  and  French 
works  on  the  subject.  Whilst  engaged  in  translating 
the  Materia  Medica  of  the  illustrious  Cullen,  in  1790, 
in  which  the  febrifuge  virtues  of  cinchona  bark  are 
described,  he  became  fired  with  the  desire  of  ascertain- 
ing its  mode  of  action.  Whilst  in  the  enjoyment  of 
the  most  robust  health,  he  commenced  the  use  of  this 
substance,  and  in  a  short  time  was  attacked  with  all 
the  symptoms  of  intermittent  fever,  similar  in  every 
respect  to  those  which  that  medicine  is  known  to  cure. 
Being  struck  with  the  identity  of  the  two  diseases,  he 
immediately  divined  the  great  truth  which  has  become 
the  foundation  of  the  new  medical  doctrine  of  homoe- 
opathy. 

"  Not  contented  with  one  experiment,  he  tried  the 
virtues  of  medicines  on  his  own  person,  and  on  that  of 
others.  In  his  investigations  he  arrived  at  this  con- 
clusion :  that  the  substance  employed  possessed  an  in- 
herent power  of  exciting  in  healthy  subjects  the  same 
symptoms  which  it  is  said  to  cure  in  the  sick.  He 
compared  the  assertions  of  ancient  and  modern  physi- 
cians upon  the  properties  of  poisonous  substances  with 
the  result  of  his  own  experiments,  and  found  them  to 
coincide  in  every  respect ;  and  upon  these  deductions 
he  brought  forth  his  doctrine  of  homoeopathy.  Taking 
this  law  for  a  guide,  he  recommenced  the  practice  of 


THE  STATUS   OF  MEDICAL   PRACTICE.       175 

medicine,  with  every  prospect  of  his  labors  being  ulti- 
mately crowned  with  success. 

"  In  1796  he  published  his  first  dissertation  on  homoe- 
opathy in  Huf eland' 's  Journal.  A  treatise  on  the  vir- 
tues of  medicines  appeared  in  1805,  and  the  ORGANON 
in  1810.  Hahnemann  commenced  as  a  public  medical 
teacher  in  Leipsic,  in  iSn,  where,  with  his  pupils,  he 
zealously  investigated  the  effects  of  medicines  on  the 
living  body,  which  formed  the  basis  of  the  Materia 
Medica  Pura,  which  appeared  during  the  same  year. 
Like  many  other  discoverers  in  medicine,  the  author  of 
the  ORGANON  has  been  persecuted  with  the  utmost  rigor ; 
and  in  1820  he  quitted  his  native  country  in  disgust. 
In  retirement  he  was  joined  by  several  of  his  pupils,  who 
formed  themselves  into  a  society  for  the  purpose  of 
prosecuting  the  homoeopathic  system  of  physic,  and 
reporting  their  observations  thereon.  Several  fasciculi 
detailing  their  labors  have  since  been  published. 

"  Of  the  doctrine  of  homoeopathy  generally,  I  have 
little  more  to  add  in  this  place ;  time  will  develop  the 
truth  or  fallacy  of  the  principle  on  which  it  is  founded  ; 
but,  in  the  meantime,  let  us  not  lose  sight  of  the  fact 
that  this  new  system  of  physic  is  spreading  throughout 
the  continent  of  Europe  with  the  rapidity  of  lightning. 
Germany,  Austria,  Russia,  and  Poland  have  already 
done  homage  to  the  doctrine,  and  physicians  have  been 
appointed  to  make  a  specific  trial  of  its  effects,  the 
results  of  which  are  unequivocally  acknowledged  to  be 
of  a  favorable  nature.  The  writings  of  the  illustrious 
Hahnemann  have  appeared  in  five  different  languages, 
independent  of  the  present  version  of  his  ORGANON  ; 
and  in  France  alone,  a  translation  of  this  work,  from 


176  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

the  pen  of  A.  J.  L.  Jourdan,  member  of  the  Academic 
Royale  de  Medecine,  has  reached  a  fourth  edition. 

"  Convinced,  from  reflection  and  observation,  of  the 
value  of  homoeopathy,  the  first  step  in  the  propagation 
and  dissemination  of  this  doctrine,  in  Britain,  was  to 
obtain  an  English  version  of  the  ORGANON." 

It  would  be  a  work  better  suited  to  the  genius  of  an 
industrious  cyclopsedist  than  the  writer  of  a  plain 
manual  like  this,  to  attempt  numbering  up  all  the 
"systems,"  so  called,  that  have  sprung  into  a  tempo- 
rary and  fleeting  popularity  during  the  last  century  in 
the  direction  of  healing.  Besides  the  well-known  and 
widely-practiced  methods  included  in  the  general  term 
"allopathy"  and  the  more  special  mode  prescribed 
by  homoeopathy,  there  are  hydropathists  of  various 
descriptions,  who  place  different  degrees  of  curative 
virtue  in  springs,  baths,  packs,  hot  and  cold  water 
treatments,  taken  now  internally,  now  externally,  then 
together  and  then  separate;  vegetarian  healers,  herb- 
doctors,  counter-irritation  healers,  and  healers  by  jump- 
ing, lifting,  dancing,  fencing,  the  practice  of  light 
and  heavy  gymnastics,  and  movement  curers;  abstainers, 
feeders,  milk-diet  doctors,  fruit-diet  doctors,  psycho- 
logic, psychopathic,  magnetic,  and  every  other  imagin- 
able kind  of  healing  system  that  the  diseased  condition 
of  humanity  and  the  easy  character  of  its  faith,  or  per- 
haps we  might  more  justly  say  the  despair  of  its  desper- 
ate necessity,  can  suggest.  To  all  and  each,  there  have 
been  a  sufficient  number  of  adherents  to  confer  upon 
the  passing  experiment  some  interest ;  but  all  except 
the  long-tried  and  deeply  engrafted  systems  of  allo- 
pathy and  the  widely  diffused  methods  of  homoeopathy 


THE   STATUS   OF  MEDICAL   PRACTICE.       i-j-j 

appear  destined  to  become  the  ephemera  of  the  day, 
and  pass  away  like  the  fashion  of  the  hour  in  vanity 
and  vexation  of  spirit.  Our  readers  will  doubtless  ask 
where  in  this  long  category  of  systems  and  claims  for 
systems  do  we  place  the  subject  of  this  book,  namely, 
electro-magnetism  ?  We  answer,  nowhere  as  yet, — that 
is,  as  a  system.  Electricity  and  magnetism  are  original 
forces,  or  original  parts  of  one  universal  force,  and,  being 
as  old  as  creation,  their  uses  are  simply  dependent  upon 
the  degrees  of  intelligence  with  which  the  age  is  pre- 
pared to  apply  them. 

We  have  already  made  claim  for  electricity  as  being, 
if  not  the  veritable  life-principle  in  man,  at  least  its 
analogue,  and  the  nearest  approach  to  it  we  can  ever 
find  in  nature  outside  of  man.  We  need  not  go  over 
the  ground  of  these  arguments  again  ;  suffice  it  that, 
being  as  we  have  claimed  the  life  itself,  it  must  be  also 
the  restorer  of  life  and  the  restorer  of  life's  disturbed 
functional  activities. 

Its  application  as  a  therapeutic  agent  is,  however, 
something  very  different  from  our  recognition  of  its 
inherent  virtues  and  powers.  How  far  we  can  com- 
mand its  agency  as  a  successful  healer  must  depend 
upon  how  far  we  can  learn  to  adapt  it  to  the  human 
system,  engraft  upon  it  scientific  modes  of  application, 
and  put  it  to  its  real  use  as  a  healing  power. 

That  it  can  effect  much  in  this  direction  has  not 
only  been  proved  again  and  yet  again,  but  the  proofs 
are  multiplying  daily  on  every  side  of  us.  Living 
bodies  are  struck  dead  by  lightning,  and  half-dead 
bodies,  as  in  paralysis,  are  restored  by  it. 

Franklin,  Galvani,  Volta,  Aldini,  Colomb,  Matteucci, 


1 78  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

and  hosts  of  modern  scientists,  pour  in  their  wealth  of 
testimony  to  its  powers  and  possibilities  over  the  nerves 
and  muscles  of  the  dead  and  living  both. 

Antoine  Csesar  Becquerel,  the  distinguished  French 
physician,  naturalist,  engineer,  and  electrician,  has 
written  a  vast  number  of  fine  treatises  upon  the  nature 
of  electricity,  and  his  researches  in  the  direction  of 
electrical  action  as  a  motor  in  vital  functions  are 
equally  curious  and  suggestive.  But,  after  all,  experi- 
ence is  one  of  the  best  of  discoverers,  one  of  the  most 
convincing  logicians,  that  the  world  has  ever  listened 
to.  Experience  is  more  and  more  surely  demonstrating 
day  by  day  that  electricity  is  a  great  and  a  wonderful 
therapeut,  and  that,  when  properly  understood  and 
carefully  applied,  it  must  take  rank  as  the  world's  best, 
surest,  perhaps  only,  healer,  and  that,  just  as  soon  as 
science  has  mastered  the  rudimental  laws  by  which  it 
operates  on  and  through  living  tissues. 

And  now  we  bring  our  review  to  a  close.  Medicine 
is  at  present  hardly  pursued  as  a  system  at  all.  It  is 
recognized  to  have  been  a  long  and  hazardous  succession 
of  experiments  throughout  its  eventful  history.  No 
infallible  specific,  either  in  medicine  or  surgery,  has 
yet  been  found,  save  now  and  then  a  healing  herb, 
balm,  or  drug,  and  that  only  in  application  to  certain, 
or  rather  uncertain,  human  temperaments.  The  poor 
animals,  who  search  for  grasses  and  herbs  as  medicines 
in  special  conditions  of  disease,  act  under  the  prompt- 
ings of  instinct  with  a  wisdom  which  far  exceeds  our 
blundering  experiments.  That  food,  choice  of  diet, 
habits  of  life,  clothing,  airs,  and  all  the  details  that 
constitute  hygiene,  should  have  been  taken  into  ac- 


THE  STATUS    OF  MEDICAL   PRACTICE.        179 

count  in  far  higher  degrees  than  they  have  been,  every 
day's  experience  is  helping  to  demonstrate.  When, 
therefore,  we  write  slightingly  of  systems,  methods, 
and  curative  arts,  we  do  so  because  we  feel  the  impor- 
tance of  urging  that  they  should  one  and  all  be  treated 
as  matters  of  secondary  and  not  primary  moment,  in 
the  preservation  of  human  life  and  health.  Hygienic 
lives  and  hygienic  systems  first,  and  remedial  arts  next, 
is  our  motto,  and  this  on  the  principle  that  prevention 
is  better  far  than  cure.  If  disease,  however,  supervenes, 
and  the  functions  of  hygiene  as  a  preventive  are  balked, 
we  should  then  seek  for  the  best,  most  natural,  reason- 
able, and  vitally  assimilated  methods  of  cure.  Hitherto 
we  have  only  been  experimenting  in  the  hope  of  find- 
ing this  superexcellent  mode.  Great  learning,  world- 
wide research,  vast  skill,  genius,  industry,  long  lives  of 
patient  toil,  whole  generations  of  earnest  devotion,  and 
centuries  of  ever-increasing  light  upon  therapeutic 
possibilities,  have  marked  man's  progress  in  the  history 
of  medicine.  Anatomy  and  physiology  have  mean- 
while dawned  upon  the  toilers  of  the  ages,  in  compen- 
sation for  their  vast  expenditure  of  life-service  ;  and  if, 
at  the  close  of  all,  the  science  of  life  and  vital  force 
should  reward  them  with  another  and  grander  revela- 
tion, their  labors  will  not  have  been  undertaken  in 
vain,  and  the  history  of  medical  science  will  bring  us 
face  to  face  at  last  with  the  solution  of  creation's  pro- 
foundest  problem,  namely,  the  mystery  of  the  life- 
principle  and  its  application  in  the  form  of  electricity 
to  the  reduction  of  those  disorders  which,  commencing 
with  a  disturbance  of  electric  force,  can  only  be 
conquered  by  electric  force. 


CONCLUDING    CHAPTER. 

A    REVIEW. 

GLANCING  back  over  the  ground  the  author  and 
reader  have  traversed  together  in  this  volume,  we  see, 
indeed,  that  "a  new  path  in  electrical  therapeutics" 
has  been  opened  up  before  us,  and  the  beginning  of 
possibilities  incalculable  in  point  of  use,  blessing,  and 
scientific  discovery,  are  dawning  upon  us. 

The  theories  of  ancient  philosophers,  the  specula- 
tions of  sages,  and  the  chance  discoveries  of  time- 
honored  scientists,  all  seem  to  have  matured  under  the 
sunlight  of  modern  progress,  until  the  indications 
afforded  by  the  half-mythical,  half-real  narrations  re- 
corded in  the  days  of  antiquity,  take  on  substantial 
forms,  and  the  magnesian-stone  of  old  becomes  the 
load-stone  of  to-day;  the  fabled  deities  of  the  skies 
resolve  themselves  into  impersonations  of  the  powers 
of  nature;  the  dreams  of  the  alchemists  are  realized 
in  the  discoveries  of  electricians;  and  the  therapeuts  of 
ancient  Egypt  build  temples  which  Mesmer,  Franklin, 
Duchenne,  Becquerel,  and  Morse  convert  into  store- 
houses for  the  conserved  forces  of  life,  health,  science, 
and  mental  power. 

My  claims  as  set  forth  in  this  volume  are  simply  for 
the  discovery  of  a  new  application  of  a  power  recog- 
nized in  all  ages,  and  in  all  ages  indicative  of  this 
same  new  path  in  electric  therapeutics.  The  healers 
i  So 


A   REVIEW.  %  iSl 

or  therapeuts  of  old  perceived  the  possibility  of  using 
magnetism  as  a  remedial  agent.  Their  followers  have 
ever  turned  with  wistful  eyes  to  the  realms  of  the  im- 
ponderable to  find  that  philosopher's  stone,  the  exist- 
ence of  which  has  been  so  long  felt  yet  so  long  hidden 
from  the  eager  researches  of  philosophy. 

My  electrical  cranial  diagnosis,  and  the  application 
of  different  currents  to  different  forms  and  conditions 
of  disease,  are  but  way-marks  on  the  path  of  progress. 
Both  these  methods  of  applying  the  force  take  the 
uses  of  electricity  out  of  the  hands  of  unskillful  char- 
latans and  unscrupulous  experimenters,  and  prove  that 
the  same  mathematical  precision  in  the  adjustment  of 
means  to  ends,  by  which  the  Atlantic  telegraph  has 
been  successfully  established,  is  equally  necessary  to 
render  electricity  a  safe  and  reliable  remedial  agent. 
My  system  has  proved  also  the  great  anthropological 
fact  that  the  brain  is  the  chart  of  the  body  and  the 
correct  record  of  all  its  complex  motions  and  states. 

By  the  protest  I  have  herewith  recorded  against  the 
unscientific  use  of  electricity,  and  by  the  proofs  I  offer 
in  well-attested  cases  of  cure  through  the  scientific  use 
of  electricity,  I  cannot  doubt  but  that  I  shall  be  at 
least  measurably  instrumental  in  stimulating  earnest 
and  capable  minds  to  fresh  research,  and  beneficent 
medical  practitioners  to  amended  systems  of  practice 
in  connection  with  this  great  remedial  agent.  I  have 
often  heard  it  alleged  that  John  Wesley,  the  great  and 
good  founder  of  Methodism,  had  not  only  directed  his 
attention  to  the  uses  of  electricity  as  a  remedial  agent, 
but  also  that  he  had  frequently  applied  it  with  marked 
success  to  numbers  of  suffering  organisms. 
16 


182  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

In  reviewing  some  records  wherein  I  expected  to 
find  data  for  what  I  had  been  orally  informed  of  on 
this  subject,  I  came  across  the  following  striking 
excerpts  from  a  fashionable  and  high-toned  English 
paper  entitled  JBelgravia,  in  which  appear,  under  date 
of  December,  1872,  these  passages: 

"And  yet  electricity  is  life!  It  is  the  very  soul  of 
the  universe !  It  permeates  through  all  space,  sur- 
rounds the  earth,  and  is  found  in  every  part  of  it. 
Unlike  many  human  specimens,  it  never  desires  to 
keep  all  its  good  to  itself,  but  is  ever  ready  to  diffuse 
its  beneficence.  It  is  only  in  abnormal  conditions 
and  in  unexpected  rencontres  that  it  displays  itself  in 
that  brilliant  flash  and  that  deafening  roar  with  which 
its  majestic  force  yields  up  its  great  spirit. 

"Two  conditions  of  the  human  body  also  are  illus- 
trative of  its  varied  action.  A  person  who  has  the 
smallpox  cannot  be  electrified,  while  sparks  of  elec- 
tricity may  be  drawn  from  the  body  of  a  patient  dying 
of  cholera.  In  the  first  instance,  it  appears  that  the 
body  is  fully  charged  with  its  own  electricity,  since  it 
is  impossible  to  electrify  a  body  beyond  a  certain  de- 
gree; in  the  latter  there  seems  to  be  a  tendency  to  part 
with  the  electrical  force  which  is  essential  to  the  sup- 
port of  life,  and  which  may  account  for  the  distressing 
and  rapid  weakness  of  cholera  patients. 

"Undoubtedly,  however,  the  greatest  marvels  of 
this  beneficent  agent  are  to  be  found  in  its  influence 
on  the  human  frame  and  in  the  cure  of  disease.  But, 
like  everything  that  is  destined  eventually  to  be  ac- 
cepted by  the  public,  as  a  matter  of  course  it  has  had 
to  pass  through  the  usual  three  stages  of  contempt, 


A   REVIEW.  183 

controversy,  and  adoption.  More  than  a  hundred 
years  ago  John  Wesley  said,  '  How  much  sickness  and 
pain  may  be  prevented  or  removed,  and  how  many 
lives  saved,  by  this  unparalleled  remedy !  And  yet 
M-ith  what  vehemence  has  it  been  opposed  ! — sometimes 
by  treating  it  with  contempt,  as  if  it  were  of  little  or  no 
use ;  sometimes  by  arguments,  such  as  they  were ;  and 
sometimes  by  such  cautions  against  its  ill-effects  as 
made  thousands  afraid  to  meddle  with  it.'  And  he 
thus  sums  up  his  opinion  of  the  medical  profession  and 
their  opposition  to  the  use  of  electricity  in  disease: 
'There  cannot  be  in  nature  any  such  thing  as  an  abso- 
lute panacea, — a  medicine  that  will  cure  every  disease 
incident  to  the  human  body.  If  there  could,  elec- 
tricity would  bid  fairer  for  it  than  anything  in  the 
world.  Mr.  Lovett  is  of  opinion  that  the  electrical 
method  of  treating  disorders  cannot  be  expected  to 
arrive  at  any  considerable  degree  of  perfection  till 
administered  and  applied  by  gentlemen  of  the  faculty. 
Nay,  then,  QUANTA  DE  SPE  DECIDI  !  all  my  hopes  are  at 
an  end.  For  when  will  it  be  administered  and  applied 
by  them?  Truly,  AD  GRJECAS  CALENDAS.  Not  till  the 
gentlemen  of  the  faculty  have  more  regard  to  the  in- 
terest of  their  neighbors  than  their  own.  Therefore, 
without  waiting  for  what  probably  never  will  be,  and 
what  indeed  we  have  no  reason  to  expect,  let  men  of 
sense  do  the  best  they  can  for  themselves,  as  well  as 
for  their  poor  neighbors.  I  doubt  not  but  more 
nervous  disorders  would  be  cured  in  one  year  by  this 
single  remedy  than  the  whole  English  MATERIA  MEDICA 
will  cure  by  the  end  of  the  century.' 

"John  Wesley  was  indeed  prophetic  when  he  wrote 


1 84  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

in  1759:  'It  is  highly  probable  a  timely  use  of  this 
means  might  prevent,  before  they  were  thoroughly 
formed,  and  frequently  even  then  remove,  some  of  the 
most  painful  and  dangerous  distempers, — cancers  and 
scrofulous  humors  in  particular, — though  they  will  yield 
to  no  other  medicine  yet  discovered.  It  is  certain  no- 
thing is  so  likely,  by  accelerating  the  contained  fluids, 
to  dilate  and  open  the  passages  as  well  as  divide  the 
coagulated  particles  of  blood  so  that  the  circulation 
may  be  again  performed.  And  it  is  a  doubt  whether 
it  would  not  be  of  more  use  even  in  mortification  than 
any  other  medicine  in  the  world.'  ' 

The  above  citations  show  how  different  is  the  senti- 
ment among  scientific  minds  in  England  concerning 
this  important  subject  from  what  it  was  in  the  days 
of  good  John  Wesley.  Gradually,  but  certainly,  the 
wisest  minds  the  world  over,  are  growing  into  a  settled 
conviction  as  to  the  importance  of  the  role  played  by 
electricity  in  the  animal  economy. 

My  own  practice,  with  the  constantly  increasing  de- 
mands upon  me  to  furnish  more  light  upon  the  methods 
of  my  discovery,  all  tend  to  convince  me  of  the  great 
anxiety  on  the  part  of  the  community  to  push  on  in 
the  new  path  of  knowledge ;  and  although  the  inces- 
sant demands  that  are  made  on  my  time  forbid  me  to 
devote  my  energies  to  fresh  researches,  or  to  extend 
this  simple  domestic  treatise  into  the  broader  fields  to 
which  I  find  the  science  tending,  I  know  that  where  I 
leave  off  there  are  numbers  of  capable  minds  able 
and,  I  trust,  willing,  to  take  up  the  unfinished  work. 
Every  fresh  revelation,  however  slight  or  simple,  be- 
comes a  stepping-stone  to  a  fresh  ascent  in  the  ladder 


A   REVIEW.  !85 

of  progression ;  I  know,  therefore,  that  this  unpretend- 
ing volume  and  the  revelation  it  contains  will  form  a 
part  of  the  stepping-stones  that  will  lead  suffering  hu- 
manity into  the  temple  of  electrical  therapeutics,  and 
though  the  architect  may  be  forgotten,  and  the  hands 
that  build  may  be  bruised  and  wounded  by  the  stones 
which  conservatism,  learned  ignorance,  and  pedantic 
presumption  hurl  against  them,  if  I  can  but  feel  that 
the  talent  for  dispensing  light  to  the  scientifically  blind, 
health  to  the  sick,  and  life  to  the  perishing,  has  been 
returned  by  me  with  some  usury  to  the  great  Giver  of 
all  good  things  from  whom  I  received  it,  my  work  will 
be  done ;  this  little  volume  will  have  fulfilled  its  mis- 
sion, and  I  shall  leave  my  footprints  on  the  sands  of 
time,  well  satisfied  that  they  have  not  been  made  in 
vain. 

16* 


AUTHORITATIVE  UTTERANCES  ON  THE  SUB- 
JECT OF  ELECTRICITY  AND  ITS  IDENTITY 
WITH  THE  "LIFE  PRINCIPLE." 

IN  the  main  body  of  this  work  I  have  availed  myself 
but  rarely,  and  in  very  limited  quotations,  of  any 
authoritative  utterances  in  support  of  the  various  posi- 
tions I  have  assumed.  In  contending  for  the  identity 
of  electricity  with  the  long-sought-for  "  vital  principle" 
in  living  organisms,  I  have,  perhaps,  been  too  reticent 
in  this  respect,  and  failed  to  strengthen  my  case  to  the 
extent  of  my  ability,  omitting  the  citation  of  opinions, 
the  force  of  which,  if  given  in  approximation  with  my 
own  experiences,  might  have  proved  unanswerable. 

My  chief  aim  in  this  little  volume  has  been,  how- 
ever, to  present  my  views  in  reference  to  electrical 
action  with  all  possible  directness  and  simplicity,  and 
leave  their  reasonableness  or  fallacy  to  demonstrate 
themselves.  More  especially  have  I  observed  this 
course  in  reference  to  my  opinions  concerning  the 
"vital  principle,"  because  I  deemed  the  best  interests 
of  therapeutic  science  were  at  stake  in  the  matter,  and 
that  the  identity  of  that  same  "vital  principle"  and 
electricity  should  not  be  received  as  a  mere  matter  of 
opinion,  but  as  an  accepted  fact,  derivable  from  the 
proofs  which  identity  of  phenomenal  action  between 
the  two  elements  furnishes  us  with.  If  I  have  succeeded 
in  impressing  my  readers  with  the  truth  of  this  posi- 
186 


AUTHORITATIVE    UTTERANCES.  i8j 

tion,  they,  like  myself,  will  be  better  prepared  to  re- 
ceive and  deal  with  electricity  as  the  life  of  things. 
Their  confidence  in  its  curative  virtues  will  not  only 
be  strengthened  and  confirmed,  but  their  manipula- 
tions with  the  force  as  evolved  in  the  machines  appro- 
priate to  healing  purposes,  will  be  conducted  with  all 
the  more  care  and  reverence  from  their  better  under- 
standing of  its  true  value. 

To  such  of  my  readers  as  may  have  failed  to  appre- 
hend the  force  of  the  reasons  I  have  offered  in  support 
of  my  opinions,  the  facts  and  phenomena  from  which 
I  evolve  them  will  remain  inexplicable ;  still,  they  are 
facts,  and  as  such  will  ultimately  be  appreciated  at 
their  true  value  by  the  thinking  part  of  the  community. 
Having  endeavored  to  do  justice  to  my  own  convic- 
tions by  basing  them  simply  on  reason,  and  ignoring 
authority  as  the  foundation  on  which  to  rest  for  their 
acceptance,  I  shall  now  unhesitatingly  present,  by  way 
of  appendix,  a  few  citations  of  an  authoritative  char- 
acter from  a  rare  and  very  remarkable  work  written  in 
1846,  by  Mr.  T.  S.  Mackintosh,  an  English  scientist 
of  acknowledged  ability,  and  entitled  "The  Electrical 
Theory  of  the  Universe." 

The  main  feature  of  this  treatise  is  its  fidelity  to  the 
idea  that  electricity  is  the  great  motor-power  of  the 
universe,  the  life  of  all  things,  the  source  and  centre  of 
motion,  and  the  "vital  principle"  in  man,  animals, 
plants,  organic  and  inorganic  matter,  bodies  in  space, 
etc.  Among  the  mass  of  curious  and  suggestive  mat- 
ter contained  in  this  work  are  numerous  arguments, 
strengthened  by  abundant  quotations  from  esteemed 
authorities,  to  prove  the  identity  of  electricity  with  the 


1 88  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

"life  principle"  in  men,  animals,  and  plants.  As  this 
work  is  not  likely  to  be  attainable  to  the  generality  of 
my  readers,  and  the  citations  in  ev'dence  of  the  above- 
named  position  are  felicitous  and  interesting,  I  propose 
to  give  one  or  two  of  these  illustrations,  confident  that 
their  perusal  will  not  be  uninstructive  or  out  of  place. 

The  details  of  the  first  experiment  will  recall  others 
of  a  similar  kind  with  which  many  of  our  readers  must 
be  familiar;  but  we  give  it  in  this  place  chiefly  be- 
cause it  bears  with  remarkable  significance  upon  the 
solution  which  electrical  action  affords  us  of  many 
phenomena  hitherto  deemed  inexplicable. 

We  preface  the  narrative  with  Mackintosh's  curt  re- 
marks on  the  opponents  with  whose  opinions  he,  like 
myself,  has  had  to  contend, — doing  battle,  as  I  have, 
by  aid  of  facts  versus  theories. 

"  But  it  will  be  said  that  all  this,  though  true,  must  be 
viewed  in  connection  with  the  'vital  principle.'  And 
what  are  we  to  understand  by  this  expression,  'vital 
principle'?  If  we  consider  it  attentively,  we  shall 
very  soon  discover  that  it  is  one  of  those  vague,  com- 
monplace phrases  that  pass  current  among  men,  and 
which  serve  rather  to  cover  our  ignorance  than  to  ad- 
vance our  knowledge.  When  we  endeavor  to  trace  the 
'vital  principle'  to  the  nervous  energy,  and  the  ner- 
vous energy  to  electrical  action,  we  at  least  endeavor  to 
put  our  system  in  a  tangible  form;  but  when  we  pro- 
fess to  explain  the  animal  functions  by  a  'vital  princi- 
ple,' our  explanation  is  mere  verbiage. 

"  We  have  already  said  that  the  animal  system  is  a 
bundle  of  circles,  each  connected  with  the  others  like 
the  wheels  of  a  watch,  or  like  the  different  parts  of  the 


AUTHORITATIVE    UTTERANCES.  iBg 

steam-engine;  and  that  the  primary  circle,  the  main- 
spring, which  may  be  said  to  originate  the  animal  func- 
tions, is  the  nervous,  and  that  the  nervous  circle  is 
actuated  by  electrical  agency.  The  proof  of  this  is 
derived  from  plain  and  simple  facts. 

"The  following  extract  is  from  the  letters  of  Sir 
David  Brewster  on  'Natural  Magic';  and,  viewed  in 
connection  with  the  generation  of  animal  force  in  the 
lungs,  might  furnish  the  basis  of  a  curious  and  inter- 
esting inquiry: 

AN   INDIVIDUAL   RAISED   ON   THE   FINGERS   OF   FOUR 
OTHER    PERSONS. 

"  'One  of  the  most  remarkable  and  inexplicable  ex- 
periments relative  to  the  strength  of  the  human  frame, 
which  you  have  yourself  seen  and  admired,  is  that  in 
which  a  heavy  man  is  raised,  with  the  greatest  facility, 
when  he  is  lifted  up  the  instant  that  his  own  lungs  and 
of  the  persons  who  raise  him  are  inflated  with  air. 
This  experiment  was,  I  believe,  first  shown  in  England 
a  few  years  ago  by  Major  H.,  who  saw  it  performed  in 
a  large  party  at  Venice,  under  the  direction  of  an 
officer  of  the  American  navy.  As  Major  H.  per- 
formed it  more  than  once  in  my  presence,  I  shall 
describe,  as  nearly  as  possible,  the  method  which  he 
prescribed.  The  heaviest  person  in  the  party  lies  down 
upon  two  chairs,  his  legs  supported  by  one  and  his 
back  by  the  other.  Four  persons — one  at  each  leg  and 
one  at  each  shoulder — then  try  to  raise  him,  and  they 
find  his  dead  weight  to  be  very  great  from  the  difficulty 
they  experience  in  supporting  him.  When  he  is  re- 
placed in  the  chair,  each  of  the  four  persons  takes  hold 


190 


ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 


of  the  body  as  before,  and  the  person  to  be  lifted  gives 
two  signals  by  clapping  his  hands.  At  the  first  signal 
he  himself  and  the  four  lifters  begin  to  draw  a  long 
and  full  breath,  and  when  the  inhalation  is  completed, 
or  the  lungs  filled,  the  second  signal  is  given  for  raising 
the  person  from  the  chair.  To  his  own  surprise  and 
that  of  his  bearers,  he  is  raised  with  the  greatest  facility, 
as  if  he  were  no  heavier  than  a  feather.  On  several 
occasions  I  have  observed  that  when  one  of  the  bearers 
performed  his  part  ill,  by  making  the  inhalation  out 
of  time,  the  part  of  the  body  which  he  tries  to  raise  is 
left,  as  it  were,  behind.  As  you  have  repeatedly  seen 
this  experiment,  and  have  performed  the  part  both  of 
the  load  and  the  bearer,  you  can  testify  how  remarkable 
the  effects  appear  to  all  parties,  and  how  complete  is 
the  conviction  either  that  the  load  has  been  lightened 
or  the  bearers  strengthened  by  the  prescribed  process. 

"  '  At  Venice  the  experiment  was  performed  in  a  more 
imposing  manner.  The  heaviest  man  in  the  party  was 
raised  and  sustained  upon  the  points  of  the  forefingers 
of  six  persons.  Major  H.  declared  that  the  experiment 
would  not  succeed  if  the  person  lifted  were  placed  on 
a  board,  and  the  strength  of  the  individuals  applied  to 
the  board.  He  conceived  it  necessary  that  the  bearers 
should  communicate  directly  with  the  body  to  be  raised. 
I  have  not  had  an  opportunity  of  making  any  experi- 
ments relative  to  these  curious  facts;  but  whether  the 
general  effect  is  an  illusion,  or  the  result  of  known  or 
of  new  principles,  the  subject  merits  a  careful  investi- 
gation.' 

"  In  the  present  chapter  we  propose  to  show  that  the 
vital  energy  is  to  be  ascribed  to  galvanic  action ;  and 


A  UTHORITA  TIVE    UTTERANCES. 


191 


in  doing  so  we  shall  confine  ourselves  chiefly  to  a  state- 
ment of  facts.  To  enter  into  an  inquiry  concerning 
the  manner  in  which  the  electrical  energy  is  transmitted 
to  the  living  animal  function,  would,  from  the  nature 
of  the  subject,  require  a  long  and  elaborate  train  of 
previous  inquiry;  we  must,  therefore,  for  the  present, 
be  contented  with  bare  facts,  which  are,  after  all,  the 
basis  of  science. 

"According  to  Ritter,  the  electricity  of  the  positive 
pole  augments,  whilst  the  negative  diminishes,  the 
action  of  life.  Tumefaction  of  parts  is  produced  by 
the  former;  depression  by  the  latter.  'The  pulse  of 
the  hand,'  he  says,  'held  a  few  minutes  in  contact 
with  the  positive  pole,  is  strengthened;  that  of  the  one 
in  contact  with  the  negative,  is  enfeebled; — the  former 
is  accompanied  with  a  sense  of  heat;  the  latter  with 
a  feeling  of  coldness.  Objects  appear,  to  a  positively 
electrified  eye,  larger,  brighter,  and  red;  while  to  one 
negatively  electrified  they  appear  smaller,  less  distinct, 
and  bluish, — colors  indicating  opposite  extremities  of 
the  prismatic  spectrum.  The  acid  and  alkaline  tastes, 
when  the  tongue  is  acted  on  in  succession  by  the  two 
electricities,  are  well  known,  and  have  been  ingeniously 
accounted  for  by  Sir  Humphry  Davy,  in  his  admirable 
Bakerian  lectures.  The  smell  of  oxymuriatic  acid, 
and  of  ammonia,  are  said  by  Ritter  to  be  the  opposite 
odors  excited  by  the  two  opposite  poles,  as  a  full  body 
of  sound  and  a  sharp  tone  are  the  corresponding  effects 
on  the  ear.  But  unquestionably  the  most  precise  and 
interesting  researches  on  the  relation  between  voltaic 
electricity  and  animal  life  are  those  contained  in  Dr. 
Wilson  Philip's  'Dissertations  in  the  Philosophical 


192 


ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 


Transactions,'  as  well  as  in  his  'Experimental  Inquiry 
into  the  Laws  of  the  Vital  Functions.' 

"The  eight  pair  of  nerves  distributed  to  the  stomach, 
and  subservient  to  digestion,  were  divided  by  incisions 
in  the  necks  of  several  living  rabbits.  After  the  oper- 
ation, the  parsley  which  they  ate  was  removed  without 
alteration  in  their  stomachs;  and  the  animals,  after 
evincing  much  difficulty  of  breathing,  seemed  to  die 
of  suffocation.  But  when,  in  other  rabbits,  similarly 
treated,  the  galvanic  power  was  transmitted  along  the 
nerve  below  its  section  to  a  disk  of  silver  placed  closely 
in  contact  with  the  skin  of  the  animal,  opposite  to  its 
stomach,  no  difficulty  of  breathing  occurred.  The 
voltaic  action  being  kept  up  for  twenty-six  hours,  the 
rabbits  were  then  killed,  and  the  parsley  was  found  in 
as  perfectly  digested  a  state  as  that  in  healthy  rabbits 
fed  at  the  same  time;  and  their  stomachs  evolved  the 
smell  peculiar  to  that  of  a  rabbit  during  digestion. 
These  experiments  were  several  times  repeated  with 
similar  results ;  hence  it  appears  that  the  galvanic 
energy  is  capable  of  supplying  the  place  of  the  nervous 
influence,  so  that,  while  under  it,  the  stomach,  other- 
wise inactive,  digests  food  as  usual.  Dr.  Wilson  Philip 
concludes  that  the  identity  of  galvanic  electricity  and 
nervous  influence  is  established  by  these  experiments. 
The  general  inferences  deduced  by  him  from  his  multi- 
plied experiments  are,  that  voltaic  electricity  is  capable 
of  effecting  the  formation  of  the  secreted  fluid,  when 
applied  to  the  blood  in  the  same  way  in  which  the 
nervous  influence  is  applied  to  it;  and  that  it  is  capable 
of  occasioning  an  evolution  of  caloric  from  arterial 
blood.  When  the  lungs  are  deprived  of  the  nervous 


AUTHORITATIVE    UTTERANCES.  I93 

influence  by  which  their  function  is  impeded,  and  even 
destroyed  ;  when  the  digestion  is  interrupted  by  with- 
drawing this  influence  from  the  stomach,  these  two 
vital  functions  are  renewed  by  exposing  them  to  the 
influence  of  a  galvanic  trough.  '  Hence,'  says  Dr. 
Philip,  'galvanism  seems  capable  of  performing  all 
the  functions  of  the  nervous  influence  in  the  animal 
economy.' ' 

Then  follovrs  an  account  of  the  oft-quoted  experi- 
ments performed  by  Dr.  Ure  on  the  body  of  a  con- 
demned murderer  hanged  at  Glasgow.  This  detail  we 
omit,  both  on  account  of  its  frequent  citation  in  other 
works,  doubtless  familiar  to  the  reader,  and  also  be- 
cause its  harrowing  particulars  are  painful  enough  to  ex- 
cuse our  dispensing  with  their  reiteration.  The  author 
of  the  treatise  from  which  I  quote  winds  up  his  narra- 
tive with  the  following  concise  words  of  summary: 

"These  experiments  are  sufficient  to  satisfy  any  rea- 
sonable mind  that  electrical  action  is  the  great  moving 
principle  in  the  animal  economy." 

In  this  connection  we  feel  impelled  to  republish  once 
more  for  the  benefit  of  candid  and  unprejudiced  minds, 
a  relation  of  those  famous  experiments  concerning  the 
origin  of  animal  life  which  some  thirty  years  ago  ex- 
cited so  much  attention  in  the  scientific  world,  and  the 
rationale  of  which  has  never  yet  been  explained  away, 
although  numerous  attempts  have  been  made  to  do  so, 
by  the  very  unphilosophical  and  illogical  methods  of 
ridicule  and  scoffing.  We  are  again  indebted  to  Mr. 
Mackintosh  for  the  narrative,  which  we  extract  verbatim 
from  his  valuable  work. 

"'The  public  arc  aware  that  Mr.  Crosse  has  been 
i  '7 


1 94  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

recently  pursuing  a  series  of  researches  into  the  process 
of  crystallization,  by  means  of  his  galvanic  batteries, 
and  that  he  has  made  discoveries  which  have  thrown 
quite  a  new  light  upon  science.  Some  weeks  ago  he 
prepared  a  silicious  fluid  for  the  purpose  of  crystalliza- 
tion. He  heated  a  flint  to  a  white  heat,  and  then 
plunged  it  in  water  to  pulverize  it.  The  silex,  thus 
reduced,  was  saturated  to  excess  with  muriatic  acid. 
The  mixture  was  placed  in  a  jar,  a  piece  of  flannel 
was  suspended  in  it,  one  end  of  which  extended  over 
the  side,  and  thus,  by  capillary  attraction,  the  liquor 
was  slowly  filtered,  fell  into  a  funnel,  and  thence 
dropped  on  a  piece  of  ironstone  from  Mount  Vesuvius, 
upon  which  were  laid  the  two  wires  connected  with 
either  pole  of  the  battery.  We  should  state  that  the 
ironstone  had  been  previously  heated  to  a  white  heat, 
so  that  no  germs  of  life  could  have  existed  upon  it. 
Mr.  Crosse  made  his  daily  observations  of  the  wires, 
to  discover  the  beginning  of  the  process  of  crystalliza- 
tion. On  the  fourteenth  day  he  saw  some  small  white 
specks  upon  the  stone.  Four  days  afterwards  they  had 
elongated  and  assumed  an  oval  form.  He  concluded 
that  they  were  incipient  crystals.  Great  was  his  sur- 
prise on  the  twenty-second  day,  to  find  eight  legs  pro- 
jecting from  each  of  these  white  bodies;  still,  he  could 
not  believe  that  they  were  living  beings.  But  on  the 
twenty-sixth  day  his  surprise  was  complete;  there  could 
be  no  doubt,  they  moved,  they  fed,  they  were  perfect 
insects.  Eighteen  or  twenty  of  them  have  since  ap- 
peared. Many  have  seen  them,  but  there  is  no  record 
of  such  an  insect.  It  is  in  form  something  like  a 
mite ;  it  has  eight  legs,  four  bristles  at  the  tail,  and  the 


AUTHORITATIVE    UTTERANCES.  I95 

edges  of  the  body  are  very  bristly;  its  motions  are 
visible  to  the  naked  eye ;  its  color  is  gray  ;  its  substance 
is  pulpy.  It  appears  to  feed  upon  the  silicious  particles 
in  the  fluid. 

'"The  most  extraordinary  circumstance  in  this  phe- 
nomenon is  the  nature  of  the  fluid  in  which  this  insect 
lives  and  thrives.  The  acid  instantly  destroys  every 
other  living  being. 

"  'But  a  second  trial  has  confirmed  the  fact  beyond  a 
doubt.  Another  portion  of  silex  was  prepared  in  the 
same  manner,  and  reduced  to  a  gelatinous  form,  but 
without  the  acid.  A  coil  of  silver  wire  was  suspended 
in  it  from  one  of  the  poles  of  the  battery,  and  the 
other  pole  was  also  immersed,  so  as  to  send  through 
the  mass  an  incessant  stream  of  the  electric  fluid. 
About  three  weeks  afterwards,  Mr.  Crosse  examined 
the  poles  to  search  for  crystals,  and  in  one  of  the  coils 
of  wire  he  found  one  of  these  strange  insects.  This 
proves  that  it  is  produced  from  the  silex,  and  not  from 
the  acid. 

"  'Mr.  Crosse,  with  his  usual  modesty,  has  contented 
himself  with  stating  the  fact,  without  attempting  to 
account  for  it.  He  is  in  correspondence  with  Professor 
Buckland  upon  the  subject,  and  the  learned  professor 
has  suggested  an  explanation,  which  it  will  be  for  future 
observers,  by  repeated  experiments,  to  confirm.  We 
should  state  that  the  insects  were  principally  found  at 
the  negative  pole  of  the  battery.' 

"A  great  body  of  similar  facts  might  be  adduced,  if 
necessary,  tending  to  show  that  all  animal  motion  may 
be  traced  to  electrical  action;  enough  has,  however, 
been  advanced  to  satisfy  those  who  are  willing  to  be 


196  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

convinced ;  those  who  are  unwilling,  may  fall  back 
upon  the  'vital  principle,'  or  some  ethereal  or  spiritual 
essence,  if  to  their  minds  such  essence  furnishes  a  more 
satisfactory  solution.  We  do  not  hope  to  convince 
those  who  are  stubbornly  bent  upon  explaining  the 
mysteries  of  nature,  by  introducing  other  mysteries 
still  more  incomprehensible  than  those  which  they  pro- 
fess to  explain.  We  should  not  have  entered  upon  the 
subject  but  that  we  are  firmly  persuaded  that  before  we 
can  hope  to  elevate  the  physical  and  moral  condition 
of  man,  we  must  carefully  and  minutely  investigate  the 
laws  by  which  his  physical  nature  is  governed,  and 
thereby  we  shall  obtain  a  sound  basis  for  our  moral 
structure." 

The  limitations  of  our  space  forbid  any  further  ex- 
tracts, either  from  the  interesting  work  above  quoted 
or  others  in  support  of  similar  views.  On  the  facts 
presented  we  offer  no  comments  ;  they  tell  their  own 
story  in  sufficiently  forcible  language.  Our  purpose  is 
answered  when  we  find  ourselves  in  a  position  to  gain 
the  confidence  of  those  whom  we  most  desire  to  in- 
terest, namely,  the  patients  whom  it  is  our  province  to 
heal  by  electricity ;  and  this  we  are  far  better  able  to 
do  when  they  themselves  realize  the  true  nature  of  the 
force  with  which  we  deal,  and  esteem  sufficiently  the 
curative  virtues,  renovating  properties,  and  vital  quali- 
ties of  the  divine  agent  which  a  beneficent  Creator 
has  disclosed  to  human  ken  for  the  upbuilding  of  the 
suffering  human  structure. 


SUPPLEMENT  TO   AUTHORITATIVE  UTTER- 
ANCES. 

SINCE  the  first  edition  of  this  volume  I  have  been 
very  much  interested  in  a  desultory  synopsis  of  Dr. 
Ferrier's  authoritative  investigations  and  experiments 
in  the  same  paths  which  led  me,  as  far  back  as  1848,  to 
conclude  that  the  nature  and  seat  of  disease  could  be 
correctly  ascertained  from  Cranial  Diagnoses  with 
Electricity  as  the  searcher.  As  the  brain  is  the  great 
nerve-centre  and  focal  point  to  which  all  sensor  and 
motor  nerves  report  themselves,  should  be  the  map  on 
which  the  organs  and  their  special  conditions  are  rep- 
resented. Proving  the  correctness  of  this  hypothesis 
by  my  established  system,  notwithstanding  the  ridicule 
pedants  bestowed  upon  my  empiricism,  it  is  gratifying 
to  retrospect  the  familiar  roadway  of  research  and 
empiricism  leading  to  the  goal  the  science  of  sciences 
habitates — with  Dr.  Ferrier.  Although  as  yet  Dr.  Fer- 
rier  has  not  the  temerity  to  assume  the  responsibility 
of  demonstrating  his  theory  upon  human  beings,  for 
which  I  have  won  and  worn  the  title  of  mad  woman 
in  my  claims  as  set  forth  in  long  years  of  practice  as 
the  discoverer  of  an  infallible  method  of  Electrical 
Cranial  Diagnosis,  I  am  honored  when  such  an  au- 
thoritative personage  as  Dr.  Ferrier  should  at  the 
instance  of  Prof.  Huxley  persuade  the  Royal  Society 
in  England  to  come  forward  handsomely  and  vote  a 
17  •  197 


198  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

grant  to  carry  out  his  experiments  on  monkeys,  if  not 
on  mankind,  for  the  English  scientists  proclaim  "the 
monkey  is  the  nearest  approach  to  man  in  the  animal 
kingdom ;  and  as  it  is  of  course  out  of  the  question  to 
experiment  on  men,  the  monkey  will  form  an  adequate 
substitute."  Here  it  will  be  in  order  to  reassert  boldly 
and  fearlessly  that  Electrical  Cranial  Diagnosis  is  an 
exact  science  applicable  to  the  human  organism  be- 
yond a  doubt,  as  proven  in  my  long  years  of  practice 
and  instruction  to  others. 

Electrical  Cranial  Diagnosis  is  one  of  the  exact  sci- 
ences, elevating  the  system  of  therapeutics  and  pathol- 
ogy beyond  empiricism  to  the  pedestal  of  mathematics, 
far  beyond  half-formed  speculations  and  symptomatic 
indications,  revealing  the  hidden  mysteries  of  human 
organisms  to  the  searching  eye  of  the  realist,  requir- 
ing no  adequate  substitute  for  mankind  in  the  form  of 
monkeys  to  asseverate  the  unerring  determination  of 
electrical  detection  of  disease  and  conditions  of  the 
human  organism,  as  mapped  out  on  the  chart  formed 
by  the  brain. 

It  seems  the  grandest  achievement  of  a  calumniated 
career  of  over  quarter  a  century,  wherein  I  have  fre- 
quently been  tabooed  as  mad  when  striving  to  bring 
into  popularity  one  of  the  greatest  strides  in  anthro- 
pology this  age  has  recorded,  that  I  have  been  the 
pioneer  for  men  of  authoritative  sense  and  acknowledged 
scientific  persuasion  in  this  country  and  Europe.  The 
torch  of  a  mad  woman  may  have  enlightened  the 
world,  although  the  possibility  that  such  a  system  of 
diagnosis  could  be  made  through  the  agency  of  elec- 
tricity has  long  and  vehemently  been  denounced. 


AUTHORITATIVE    UTTERANCES.  199 

Without  further  comment,  I  subjoin  the  following, 
taken  from  the  Dundee  Advertiser's  London  corre- 
spondent : 

"For  some  time  the  scientific  world  has  not  been 
startled  and  rejoiced  by  any  very  great  scientific  dis- 
covery, but  at  the  present  moment  we  are  on  the  eve  of 
the  publication  of  one  of  the  greatest  scientific  discover- 
ies of  the  present  age.  The  happy  man  who  has  struck 
on  a  new  and  rich  vein  of  scientific  truth  comes  from 
the  Granite  City,  and  is  a  very  distinguished  alumnus 
of  the  university  of  Aberdeen.  Dr.  Ferrier,  who  was 
some  time  ago  appointed  successor  to  Dr.  Guy,  in  the 
chair  of  Forensic  Medicine  in  King's  College,  Lon- 
don, has  just  crowned  the  study  of  years  by  a  most 
happy  and  brilliant  series  of  experiments.  Dr.  Fer- 
rier was  a  successful  student  of  philosophy,  and  gained 
the  Ferguson  scholarship  in  Glasgow  before  he  studied 
medicine.  It  was  probably  his  acquaintance  with  Pro- 
fessor Bain's  psychology  that  led  him  to  give  special 
attention  to  the  physiology  of  the  brain,  and  his  gradu- 
ating thesis  on  the  brain,  for  which  he  obtained  a  gold 
medal,  proved  that  he  had  already  entered  on  the  study 
in  which  he  is  destined  to  acquire  enduring  fame.  He 
has  never  lost  sight  of  the  object  to  which  he  attached 
himself  so  early,  and  has  been  for  a  considerable  time 
thoroughly  up  to  the  most  advanced  knowledge.  About 
a  month  ago  his  plans  were  so  far  complete  that  he  was 
ready  to  begin  his  experiments  with  the  Easter  holi- 
days. By  the  invitation  of  Dr.  Crichton  Brown  he 
went  to  Wakefield,  and  was  amply  provided  with  cats, 
dogs  and  other  animals  for  his  experiments.  The  re- 
sults astonished  himself,  and  it  is  not  too  much  to  say 


200  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

that  during  the  last  month  more  has  been  discovered 
regarding  the  action  of  the  brain  than  all  the  preced- 
ing knowledge.  Physiology  is,  therefore,  on  the  eve 
of  an  extraordinary  advance.  What  Gall  and  Spurz- 
heim  groped  after  in  a.  loose  and  empirical  fashion  is 
now  established  on  the  sure  ground  of  experiments. 
The  modus  operandi  is  new  and  ingenious.  The  ani- 
mal to  be  experimented  on  is  first  put  under  chloro- 
form. The  next  thing  is  to  clear  away  the  skull  and 
expose  the  brain.  This,  it  will  be  understood,  is  a  dif- 
ficult and  delicate  operation,  and  the  animal  may  live 
from  three  hours  to  four  days.  All  this  has  been  done 
often  enough  before,  but  the  difficulty  was  to  get  some 
mode  of  rousing  parts  of  the  brain  into  activity  with- 
out injuring  the  parts.  The  process  employed  by  Dr. 
Ferrier  is  what  is  known  as  farad izing.  After  uncov- 
ering the  brain,  he  applies  the  point  of  an  electrode  to 
the  convolutus  of  the  brain.  Its  effect  is  to  excite 
the  functional  activity  of  that  part,  and  thereby  to  show 
what  its  real  work  is.  One  of  the  first  experiments  dis- 
closed the  part  that  is  employed  in  wagging  the  tail. 
Soon  after  the  centres  engaged  in  supplying  the  limbs, 
the  mouth,  head,  etc.,  were  discovered,  and  already 
Dr.  Ferrier  has  succeeded  in  almost  completing  a  map 
of  the  brain,  with  all  its  organs  distinguished  by  the 
sure  and  rigorous  test  of  experiment.  Nothing  could 
surpass  the  interest  of  those  experiments.  On  the  table 
before  you  is  the  dog,  with  the  skull  removed.  All 
seems,  but  for  the  breathing  and  movement  of  the  brain, 
an  inert  mass  of  dead  matter.  The  doctor  applies  the 
electrode,  and  presently  the  tail  begins  to  wag.  All 
else  is  motionless.  Another  touch,  and  its  forepaw  is 


AUTHORITATIVE    UTTERANCES.  2OI 

stretched  out ;   another,  and  its  head  is  erected  :  an- 
other, and  its  mouth  opens. 

"Again  the  magic  wand  touches  the  brain,  and  the 
animal  seems  convulsed  with  fear  and  rage,  and  so  on 
the  experiments  go.  Once  the  divining  rod  has  been 
discovered,  it  is  comparatively  easy  for  an  expert  vissica- 
tor  to  use  it.  This  discovery  so  simple,  once  known, 
will  effect  almost  a  revolution  in  physiology.  One  of 
the  chief  results  attained  by  Dr.  Ferrier  is  the  belief 
that  each  convolution  is  a  separate  organ,  although 
occasionally  several  may  be  conjoined  for  common 
work.  He  also  finds  that  the  great  motion  centres  are 
collected  in  the  front  part  of  the  brain — a  result  that 
shows  the  phrenologists  were  not  far  out  in  that  quar- 
ter. It  has  also  demonstrated  that  the  nerves  moving 
the  muscles  of  the  jaw  are  just  above  the  ear,  where  the 
phrenologists  place  gustativeness.  But  other  experi- 
ments make  sad  havoc  with  the  locality  of  many  of  the 
"bumps."  The  most  singular  of  all  the  experiments 
is  one  proving  that  one  of  the  main  uses,  if  not  the 
sole  one,  of  the  cerebellum  is  to  supply  the  muscles  of 
the  eye.  This  is  an  extraordinary  confirmation  of  one 
of  Professor  Bain's  most  characteristic  views.  But  the 
most  important  immediate  effect  of  Dr.  Ferrier's  dis- 
covery will  be  an  improved  treatment  of  diseases  of  the 
brain.  It  has  found  out  why  considerable  portions  of 
the  brain  may  be  diseased  without  interfering  with 
sanity,  and  why  other  lesions  produce  epilepsy.  It  has 
succeeded  in  artificially  producing  epilepsy  in  a  dog. 
This  is  a  most  wonderful  part  of  the  discovery,  and 
proves  the  truth  of  the  conjecture  of  Dr.  Hewlings 
Jackson,  that  epilepsy  arises  from  a  lesion  between  two 


202  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

convolutions  of  the  brain.  Dr.  Ferrier  has  also  found 
out  the  origin  of  chorea,  or  •'  St.  Vitus'  dance,"  and 
has  been  able  to  make  his  animals  show  all  the  symp- 
toms of  the  disease  artificially.  He  has  caused  tetanus 
and  other  peculiar  and  difficult  states  of  the  muscular 
system.  Curiously  enough,  Dr.  Ferrier's  discovery 
coincides  with  another  almost  essential  to  its  practical 
success.  Anatomists  have  warned  phrenologists  that 
they  erred  in  taking  the  outward  shape  of  the  skull 
as  indicating  the  shape  of  the  brain.  The  skull  varies 
considerably,  and  it  is  impossible  to  say  of  any  par- 
ticular part  that  the  brain  is  such  a  distance  below. 
Nevertheless,  a  young  anatomist  has  recently  shown 
that  there  is  a  relation  between  the  shape  of  skull  and 
of  the  brain,  and  that  it  is  possible  to  know  what  is  in 
the  inside  of  the  head  without  breaking  it  open.  This 
is  most  opportune ;  for  when  Dr.  Ferrier  has  mapped 
out  the  brain,  it  will  be  possible  to  diagnose  a  man's 
faculties  as  easily  as  tell  his  shape.  We  are  glad  to 
learn  that  at  the  instance  of  Professor  Huxley  the 
Royal  Society  has  come  handsomely  forward  and  voted 
a  grant  to  Dr.  Ferrier  to  carry  out  his  experiments  on 
monkeys.  The  monkey  is  the  nearest  approach  to 
man  in  the  animal  kingdom  ;  and  as  it  is  of  course  out 
of  the  question  to  experiment  on  men,  the  monkey  will 
form  an  adequate  substitute.  Altogether,  it  is  likely 
that  Dr.  Ferrier's  discovery,  beyond  any  discovery  of 
the  present  generation,  will  enlarge  the  circle  of  human 
knowledge  and  contribute  largely  to  the  happiness  of 
mankind." 


"IS    MEDICAL    ELECTRICITY   A   SCIENCE?" 

A  LECTURE  DELIVERED  AT  COSMOPOLITAN  HALL,  PHILA- 
DELPHIA,  MARCH,    1873,  BY  DR.   ELIZABETH  J.   FRENCH. 

THE  following  extracts  from  a  lecture  delivered  by 
.myself  on  the  above  subject,  will  suffice  to  embody  my 
views  on  the  plea  which  I  feel  bound  to  put  in  before 
closing  this  volume,  for  the  foundation  of  some  school, 
college,  or  institution,  where  the  application  of  elec- 
tricity to  the  cure  of  disease  shall  be  scientifically 
taught  and  demonstrated. 

"I  am  aware  that  the  question  which  forms  the  sub- 
ject of  this  lecture  will  find  an  affirmative  response  in 
the  mind  of  every  thinking  man  and  woman.  That 
the  application  of  electricity  to  medical  uses  is  as  much 
a  form  of  science  as  its  application  to  telegraphy,  no 
rational  being  will  attempt  to  deny;  but  that  the  laws 
of  medical  electricity  are  as  well  understood  or  as  uni- 
versally practiced  as  those  by  which  the  telegraph  is 
worked,  no  one  will  pretend  to  affirm. 

"The  only  question  that  remains  then  is,  whether  it  is 
as  necessary  to  comprehend  and  apply  the  laws  gov- 
erning electrical  action  in  the  one  case  as  in  the  other. 

"  The  answer  to  this  proposition  might  doubtless  be 
based  upon  the  results, — for  example,  it  could  with 
truth  be  urged  that  unless  the  immutable  procedures  of 
law  were  observed  in  the  application  of  electricity  to 
the  work  of  telegraphy,  there  would  be  no  favorable 

203 


204 


ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 


effect  produced  ;  but  this  stringency  of  action  does  not 
become  manifest,  it  may  be  added,  in  medical  electricity. 
Here  the  results  are  so  varied,  and  range  through  so 
many  different  gradations  between  absolute  failure 
and  perfect  cure,  that  we  are  not  entitled  to  pronounce 
upon  what  the  law  of  electrical  application  to  disease 
really  is.  Electricity  has  been  known  to  kill,  as  in  a 
stroke  of  lightning;  electricity  has  been  known  to  cure 
also,  as  in  the  restoration  of  a  paralyzed  body,  alluded 
to  in  this  volume;  in  fact,  it  is  alleged — and  that  with 
truth — that  the  laws  which  govern  electrical  action  in 
the  realm  of  mechanics  are  known,  and  always  found 
practical  and  comprehensible,  whilst  those  which 
operate  in  therapeutics  are  comparatively  unknown  and 
unmanageable.  Then  follow  the  questions,  'Must  we 
abandon  the  use  of  electricity  altogether  as  a  remedial 
agent,  or,  if  continued,  must  it  not  remain  merely  the 
subject  of  experimental  practice  ?' 

"I  grant  the  proposition  that  electricity  regulates 
itself,  and  asserts  its  own  authoritative  laws  in  all 
mechanical  action;  but  in  dealing  with  the  human  sys- 
tem have  we  no  standard  quite  as  authoritative  in  the 
forms  of  pain  and  the  aggravations  of  diseased  condi- 
tions which  result  from  malpractices? 

"The  telegraph,  and  every  form  of  mechanical  ap- 
pliance in  which  electricity  is  used  as  a  force,  are  but 
means  to  minister  to  human  comfort  and  convenience, 
but  health  and  disease  are  the  elements  of  life  and 
death.  Humanity  lives  and  has  its  being,  or  perishes 
and  ceases  to  be,  as  health  or  disease  wins  the  victory. 
What  a  miserable  fallacy  is  that  attempt  at  logic,  then, 
that  would  place  mechanical  art  in  a  higher  category 


"IS  MEDICAL   ELECTRICITY  A   SCIENCE  /» 


205 


of  importance  than  medical  science !  Meantime  I 
claim  that  my  thirty  years'  practice  as  a  healer  of  the 
sick,  is  full  of  the  most  direful  evidences  of  the  serious 
injuries  (injuries  even  to  the  very  death)  which  the 
hap-hazard  application  of  electricity  produces  upon  the 
human  frame.  Conditions  of  induced  paralysis,  palsy, 
loss  of  sight,  hearing,  nerve-power,  brain-power,  tetanus, 
tumors,  contractions,  stiff  joints,  and  even  mental  imbe- 
cility, are  effects  which  constantly  arise  from  the  merely 
experimental  use  of  electricity,  and  evidences  of  this, 
constantly  force  themselves  upon  my  notice  from  patients 
who  apply  to  me  as  a  last  and  desperate  resort,  only 
because  they  hear  that  I  and  my  students  apply  electricity 
on  scientific  principles,  and  not  in  the  reckless  and  un- 
scrupulous modes  practiced  by  unthinking  experiment- 
ers. In  the  first  place,  then,  I  insist  that  the  humnn 
body  and1  the  maintenance  of  its  integrity  in  health  is 
a  much  more  important  object  than  the  rapid  communi- 
cation of  a  message. 

"  The  message  may  be  sent  to  say  that  a  human  being 
is  perishing  from  malpractice,  with  the  very  force  that 
brings  the  intelligence. 

"  Better,  methinks,  care  first  for  the  integrity  of  that 
human  being's  physical  structure,  and  inform  his  mind 
afterwards. 

"The  message  conveyed  to  a  dead  man  will  not  avail 
much,  but  the  life  of  the  messenger  avails  everything. 
Let  us  not  attempt  to  evade  the  question  at  issue  with 
speculations  concerning  the  relative  importance  of  medi- 
cal and  mechanical  science.  These  are  points  which 
common  sense  pronounces  upon  without  any  argument 
at  all. 

18 


206  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

"  My  position  is  definite,  and  limited  to  three  propo- 
sitions :  i.  Are  there  any  laws  governing  the  appli- 
cation of  electricity  to  remedial  purposes,  and,  if  so, 
can  we  discover  and  use  them  ?  2.  Are  there  any  inju- 
rious results  produced  upon  human  beings  from  the  dis- 
regard or  ignorance  of  the  laws  of  electrical  appliances 
to  the  cure  of  disease?  and,  3.  If  medical  science  and 
its  practice  in  other  departments  than  electricity,  is 
subject  to  the  supervision  of  constituted  authorities 
and  the  restrictions  of  national  and  State  laws,  should 
not  the  use  of  electricity,  when  applied  so  largely  as  it 
is  to  the  cure  of  disease,  come  under  the  same  category 
of  restricted  action,  and  be  regulated,  like  other  de- 
partments of  science,  by  duly  constituted  authority? 

"  Now,  although  in  this  lecture  I  am  placing  myself  in 
the  position  both  of  querist  and  respondent,  and  sitting 
in  judgment  upon  my  own  propositions,  tha't  which  I 
herewith  submit  I  submit  publicly,  and  simply  place 
it  before  the  world  for  suggestion  to  others,  who  may 
either  be  disposed  to  improve  upon  my  affirmations,  or 
put  them  into  such  practical  shape  as  will  thoroughly 
test  their  value. 

"To  query  No.  i,  I  unhesitatingly  affirm  that  there 
are  not  only  laws  governing  the  action  of  electricity 
upon  the  diseased  organism,  but  that  those  laws  are  so 
comprehensible,  exact,  and  practical,  that  I  am  enabled 
always  to  say  in  dealing  with  my  patients,  '  I  KNOW  what 
the  applications  I  give,  will  do  for  you.'  I  cannot  always 
promise  a  cure — all  cases  are  not  curable,  and  accidents 
intervene :  want  of  care  on  the  part  of  my  patients  in 
following  out  my  instructions  may  interrupt  the  action  of 
the  force  I  apply;  but  all  things  being  equal,  and  my 


"/S  MEDICAL   ELECTRICITY  A   SCIENCE?"      207 

directions  in  hygienic  laws  and  other  respects  being 
carefully  followed  out,  I  repeat,  I  am  always  in  a  posi- 
tion to  say,  '  I  know  what  electricity  will  do  for  you, 
as  I  or  my  students  administer  it.' 

"  I  know  that  such  and  such  points  of  the  body  must 
be  dealt  with — such  and  such  points  avoided.  I  know 
that  such  and  such  currents  must  be  used,  and  for  such 
exact  periods  only — no  more  and  no  less.  All  this  I 
KNOW.  I  do  not  believe,  or  guess  at  it,  and  though 
there  is  a  perfect  ocean  of  unnavigated  science  yet  to 
sail  over  in  this  great  realm  of  electrical  force,  as  far 
as  I  have  ventured  to  steer  my  barque  I  have  avoided 
the  reefs  and  shoals  on  which  I  have  seen  many  a  fine 
constitution  shipwrecked,  and  thus  far  carried  scores  of 
suffering  beings  to  the  shores  of  health  and  the  ports  of 
safety.  I  venture  to  affirm,  then,  that  I  am  in  a  position 
to  answer  the  first  query  propounded,  in  the  affirmative. 

"To  the  second,  I  should  have  such  a  tale  of  suffering 
and  wrong-doing  to  narrate,  so  much  ignorance  and 
charlatanism  to  expose,  and  so  many  individual  char- 
acters to  assail,  that  I  must  content  myself  with  another 
affirmative,  and  that  of  a  general  though  a  most  em- 
phatic character. 

"  There  are  injurious  results  produced  by  ignorant 
and  unskillful  applications  of  electricity  to  the  cure  of 
disease.  The  evidences  of  this  fact  are  presented  to  my- 
self and  the  community  at  large  every  day.  They  are 
multiplying  around  us,  too,  on  every  side,  and  as  the 
uses  of  electricity  become  more  and  more  known  and 
more  and  more  appreciated,  so  do  the  abuses  increase, 
and  the  errors  of  malpractice  grow  in  proportion  to 
the  growing  popularity  of  the  practice. 


208  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

"If  the  two  preceding  propositions  can  be  accepted 
by  others  with  the  same  strength  of  affirmation  as  they 
appear  to  my  own  mind,  then  my  third  position  is 
already  established,  and  it  becomes  sufficiently  clear 
that  we  ought  to  protect  the  health  and  well-being  of 
the  community  by  insisting  that  the  use  of  medical 
electricity  shall  no  more  be  left  in  unskillful  hands 
than  the  administration  of  drugs  or  the  application  of 
the  surgeon's  knife. 

"  I  have  frequently  heard  it  alleged  as  a  reason  why 
it  was  inexpedient  to  abolish  capital  punishment  for  the 
crime  of  murder,  that  the  profound  wisdom  of  civilized 
law  courts  could  discover  no  other  method  of  dealing 
with  murderers  than  by  imitating  their  crime.  Now,  is 
it  possible  that  medical  practice  is  reduced  to  the  same 
pitiful  system  of  expediency,  and  declines  to  deal  with 
the  pretenders  who  maltreat  a  suffering  community  by 
the  abuse  of  electricity,  because  they  don't  know  of 
any  other  way  to  stop  the  wrong,  than  by  limiting  its 
use  to  legally  qualified  medical  practitioners? 

' '  In  order  that  my  position  may  not  be  misunderstood, 
and  that  I  may  not  seem  in  one  breath  to  be  pleading 
for  a  legally  established  right  to  practice  electricity, 
and  in  the  next  that  I  assume  legally  qualified  practi- 
tioners commit  capital  punishment  upon  the  body  of 
electricity,  when  its  use  is  confined  to  that  distinguished 
corps  alone,  I  must  be  permitted  to  offer  a  few  plain 
words  of  explanation.  The  use  of  the  battery  and  the 
working  of  electric  currents  in  the  human  system  do 
not  form  necessary  parts  of  every  legally  qualified 
medical  practitioner's  education.  They  may  or  may 
not  do  so,  but  the  matter  is  optional,  not  obligatory, 


"75  MEDICAL   ELECTRICITY  A   SCIENCE  r 


209 


with  the  teachers  by  whom  medical  students  are  pre- 
pared, or  else  it  depends  upon  how  far  electricity  has 
been  admitted  as  a  curative  agent  by  the  faculty  with 
whom  the  student  is  placed.  A  still  greater  drawback 
to  the  successful  use  of  electricity,  even  in  hands  strength- 
ened by  the  careful  study  of  anatomical  and  physiolo- 
gical science,  is  the  fact  that  the  laws  of  electrical  action 
are  not  evolved  from  the  routine  studies  of  anatomy 
and  physiology  at  all.  It  is  one  thing  to  know  the 
place  and  functions  of  an  organ,  and  another  to  de- 
termine how  it  is  going  to  be  affected  by  the  use  of 
electricity. 

"Again,  I  am  bound  to  add,  and  that  with  all  candor 
and  yet  respect  for  the  medical  profession  in  general, 
that  I  am  not  aware  that  its  professors  have  as  yet 
evolved  any  system  in  the  application  of  electrical  cur- 
rents, or  have  given  to  the  world  any  definite  and  de- 
monstrable set  of  instructions  concerning  the  patho- 
logical workings  of  this  wonderful  force.  I  know  that 
elaborate  treatises  have  been  written  on  electricity  as  a 
curative  agent.  Some  of  these  I  have  read,  and  others 
I  have  seen  demonstrated  in  the  pernicious  and  all  but 
fatal  results  that  have  accrued  to  different  persons  who 
have  followed  out  their  directions ;  but  whether  these 
several  treatises  contain  bane  or  blessing,  whether  they 
are  true  or  false  to  science,  their  total  lack  of  agree- 
ment, and  the  fact  that  the  writers  most  commonly  draw 
their  deductions  from  isolated  experiments  rather  than 
well-established  principles,  leave  us  no  reason  to  de- 
termine how  far  we  are  safe  or  otherwise  in  following 
the  instructions  they  contain. 

"  And  this  conclusion  brings  us  at  once  face  to  face 
1 8* 


210  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

with  the  fact  that  a  public  school  or  collegiate  institute 
of  some  kind,  is  absolutely  necessary,  where  electricity 
as  a  science  could  be  studied  and  taught,  and  where  the 
teachings  promulgated  could  become  the  subject  of 
demonstration  by  the  results  produced,  or  of  public 
criticism  to  all  who  felt  interested  in  the  matter.  I 
would  not  propose  that  such  an  institution  should  be- 
come authoritative  until  it  had  proved  its  right  to  be 
so  by  its  successes  and  orderly  methods  of  treatment ; 
but  that  which  I  do  claim  is,  that  such  an  institution  is 
imperatively  needed,  and  that  it  would  form  an  admi- 
rable stepping-stone  to  the  great  desideratum  of  the  age, 
namely,  the  discovery  and  application  of  a  scientific 
method  in  the  use  of  electricity  as  a  curative  agent,  the 
principles  of  which  could  be  taught  and  improved  upon, 
until  medical  electricity  would  be  taken  from  the  realm 
of  experiment  and  empiricism,  and  hold  its  own  as  the 
curative  science  of  sciences.  It  may  be  asked  why  I 
make  no  effort  to  found  such  an  institution  as  I  hint  at, 
based  on  my  own  claims  as  a  discoverer  and  practitioner. 
"  I  answer,  because  my  hands  are  already  full  to  over- 
flowing with  the  demonstrable  facts  of  my  practice  ; 
because,  moreover,  whilst  I  can  teach  and  demonstrate, 
I  may  not  be  gifted  with  the  genius  of  organization, 
whilst  I  know  for  a  certainty  I  am  not  endowed  with 
the  financial  means  necessary  for  the  establishment  of 
such  a  work.  Each  craftsman  to  the  accomplishment 
of  his  special  mission.  Mine  is  to  discover  the  path, 
and  point  the  way.  If  competent  road-makers  and 
builders  will  work  after  me  in  the  direction  which  it 
has  been  my  special  privilege  to  find  available  for  the 
purpose,  I  do  not  doubt  but  that,  ere  long,  Philadelphia 


"IS  MEDICAL   ELECTRICITY  A   SCIENCE?"      2ll 

may  rejoice  in  being  the  first  city  of  civilization  to  in- 
augurate electrical  medical  colleges;  the  first  pioneer 
to  open  up  to  mankind  the  incalculable  blessing  of 
having  found,  delineated,  and  crystallized  into  a 
science,  '  the  way  of  the  life-lightnings,'  and  pointed 
humanity  in  the  safe,  reliable,  and  scientific  'New  Path 
in  Electrical  Therapeutics.1  " 


LIST  OF   REFERENCES. 

BEFORE  calling  the  reader's  attention  to  the  few 
remarkable  cases  of  cure  which  I  select  from  hundreds 
of  others,  equally  well  attested  and  striking,  I  submit 
for  consideration  the  following  list  of  eminent  and 
distinguished  names,  to  any  or  all  of  whom  I  am  per- 
mitted to  refer  in  evidence  that  either  in  their  own 
persons,  or  those  of  some  members  of  their  families  or 
social  circle,  I  have  effected,  by  my  system,  such  cures 
as  command  their  esteem  and  kind  acknowledgment : 
in  proof  whereof,  they  cheerfully  append  this  their 
unqualified  endorsement  of  the  value  of  my  treatment 
and  methods : 

THE  RIGHT  HONORABLE  THE  EARL  and  COUNTESS 
OF  CAITHNESS,  Portland  Place,  London,  England,  and 
Barrogill  Castle,  Caithness  County,  Scotland. 

THE  COUNT  Di  MEDINA  POMAR,  Portland  Place,  Lon- 
don, England. 

A.  L.  WARNER,  M.  D.,  New  York  City. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  W.  H.  BURROUGHS,  New  York  City. 

J.  GURNEY,  Photographer,  New  York  City. 

FRANK  H.  NORTON,  New  York  City. 

IRVING  VAN  WART,  New  York  City. 

H.  O.  BAKER,  New  York  City. 

Rev.  CHAS.  HOUGHTON,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 
212 


TESTIMONIALS.  213 

WM.  GARDNER  WETHERBY,  New  York  City. 

General  JOHN  A.  LEWIS,  Buffalo. 

Colonel  Fox,  Buffalo. 

Mr.  CHARLES  RICHARDSON,  Auburn,  New  York. 

Captain  SEABURY,  Boston. 

Dr.  PATTEE,  Boston. 

DAVID  THAYER,  M.  D.,  Boston. 

Dr.  GILBERT,  Boston. 

Mrs.  N.  W.  C.  GILSON,  Boston. 

Mrs.  NELLIE  SPRAGUE,  Boston. 

A.  A.  HATHAWAY,  M.  D.,  Boston. 

Mr.  DAVID  NEVINS,  Boston. 

Mr.  THOMAS  WENTWORTH,  Boston. 

Mr.  J.  HARVEY  YOUNG,  Boston. 

Rev.  Dr.  WARREN,  D.D.,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Mr.  EDWIN  FAXON,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Mr.  GEORGE  HALL,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

T.  B.  MCCLELLAND,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

HUGH  McLEAN,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Mr.  LONGSTRETH,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Mrs.  BELROSE,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Mrs.  BERRY,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Mrs.  SISSENGER,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

JOHN  C.  MORGAN,  M.  D.,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

J.  MACLEAN,  M.  D.,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

L.  A.  SAUNDERS,  M.  D.,  Philadelphia,  Pa, 

Miss  ANNE  McDowELL,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Mr.  F.  J.  DREER,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Capt.  CHAS.  GOUPTILL,  Winter  Harbor,  Maine. 

Prof.  S.  MORRIS,  Ann  Harbor,  Mich. 

H.  PHILLIPS,  Wheeling,  W.  Va. 

Dr.  SWAIN,  Indianapolis,  Ind. 


214  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

Mr.  ECKHART,  Wheeling,  W.  Va. 

JOHN  BLESSLEY,  Wheeling,  W.  Va. 

JOHN  BOYD,  Wheeling,  W.  Va. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  MICHAEL  SWEENEY,  Martinsville,  Va. 

CHAS.  HEMPEL,  M.  D.,  Grand  Rapids,  Mich. 

Dr.  THOMAS  KISSNER,  Martinsville,  Va. 

General  POWELL,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Dr.  SENTRE,  Columbus,  O. 

Mr.  CALVIN  CARR,  Cleveland,  O. 

Prof.  VON  TAGEN,  Chicago,  111. 

Rev.  GEO.  TUTTLE,  Kalamazoo,  Mich. 

AGNES  JOHNSON,  M.  D.,  Zanesville,  O. 

Mrs.  DOUGLASS,  Zanesville,  O. 

Mrs.  BLACK,  Zanesville,  O. 

Mrs.  CHASE,  Toledo,  O. 

Capt.  COOMS,  Prospect  Harbor,  Maine. 

Mr.  E.  GOODMAN,  Ed.  Bapt.  Standard,  Chicago,  111. 

Mr.  E.  JUDSON,  Ed.  N.  W.  Lumberman,  Chicago,  111. 

Mrs.  HORACE  WELLS,  Van  Wert,  O. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  J.  W.  BULL,  Fort  Wayne,  Indiana. 

Mr.  DUMM,  Editor  Fort  Wayne  Democrat. 

C.  E.  BATTERSON,  Columbus,  O. 

C.  H.  HERSHHEIGER,  Columbus,  O. 

Rev.  Dr.  MULLER,  D.  D.,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

Col.  H.  S.  GREENLEAF,  Rochester,  N.  Y. 

P.  L.  F.  REYNOLDS,  M.  D.,  Albany,  N.  Y. 

A.  SHEPHERD,  M.  D.,  Glendale,  O. 

Mr.  GEORGE  TROWBRIDGE,  Glendale,  O. 

W.  G.  HALL,  M.  D.,  St.  Joseph,  Mo. 

Mr.  L.  SWETT,  Chicago,  111. 

Mr.  B.  M.  AUSTIN,  Kalamazoo,  Mich. 

Hon.  W.  S.  WILCOX,  Adrian,  Mich., 

and  many  others. 


TESTIMONIALS. 

TESTIMONIAL  AND    PRESENTATION  BY  LADIES  OF  BOSTON, 
MASS.,  JUNE  15,    1871. 

THE  undersigned  ladies  of  Boston,  prompted  by 
gratitude,  and  a  deep  sense  of  human  sympathy,  de- 
sire to  tender  a  public  note  of  thanks  to  Prof.  Eliza- 
beth J.  French  at  the  close  of  her  last  course  of  private 
lectures  and  valuable  conversations  to  ladies,  in  which 
she  has  with  so  much  skill  reached  the  understanding 
of  her  class,  not  only  in  the  elimination  of  her  speci- 
alty, electricity  applied  as  a  remedial  and  curative 
agency  to  the  generic  diseases  of  women,  etc.,  but  in 
elucidating  the  laws  of  physiology  governing  health,  so 
that  if  her  listeners  improve  her  counsel  they  may 
ameliorate  their  sufferings,  prolong  their  lives,  and 
elevate  their  womanhood. 

The  result  of  years  of  study,  the  record  of  an  ex- 
tensive and  successful  practice,  renders  Prof.  French's 
parlor  lectures  of  invaluable  interest  to  all  not  too  pre- 
judiced or  bigoted  to  be  enlightened.  And  we  urge 
that  one  so  proficient  to  instruct,  and  so  conversant 
with  a  mode  of  treatment  which  commends  itself  on 
investigation  to  every  thinking  mind,  should  not  be 
permitted  to  leave  our  city  without  being  publicly  pre- 
sented to  our  community,  especially  to  women.  Her 


216  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

cures  are  wonderful ;  any  one  of  which  should  place 
her  skill  and  efficiency  beyond  question.  Many  of  the 
undersigned  are  cheerful  witnesses  that  electricity  as  a 
therapeutic  is  not  a  "humbug"  in  the  hands  of  this 
eminently  superior  lady  ;  moreover,  that  it  possesses 
subtle  power  to  eradicate  diseases  which  have  baffled 
the  skill  of  the  most  eminent  physicians. 

Many  scoffers  have  come  to  her  after  all  hope  of  re- 
covery was  extinguished,  and  have  become  her  enthusi- 
astic advocates  after  availing  themselves  of  her  scientific 
treatment,  and  being  restored  to  health  and  happiness 
in  a  marvelously  short  space  of  time. 

With   the  deep  affection   and   respect  which  Prof. 
French  so  richly  merits  as  a  physician,  a  woman,  and 
a  benefactress,  we  feel  it  an  honor  to  subscribe  our- 
selves her  friends,  and  present  her  this  testimonial :  * 
Mrs.  EDWIN  FAXON,        Mrs.  DAVID  NEVINS, 
"     J.  HARVEY  YOUNG,     "     JAMES  ATHERTON, 
"     Dr.  MAYO,  Miss  H.  A.  McWAiN, 

"     W.  H.  CILLEY,        Mrs.  NETTIE  N.  WILDER, 
"     Dr.  A.  E.  CUTTER,     "     Dr.  L.  A.  BUSTEAD, 
"     NELLIE  SPRAGUE,        "     J.  C.  PARKS, 
Miss  JENNIE  COLLINS,        "     A.  A.  BOYNTON, 
Mrs.  C.  SEABURY,  "     E.  B.  DUNBAR, 

"     L.  S.  EMERY,  "     M.  S.  BETTISON, 

"     N.  J.  CROSBY,  "     J.  RICHARDSON, 

"     Dr.  A.  E.  GILBERT,   "      Dr.  MINNIE  BAKER, 
"     CAROLINE  FOSTER,     "     A.  W.  C.  GILSON, 
"     H.  C.  LONG,  "     S.  W.  JOHNSON, 

and  others. 

*  The  testimonial  spoken  of  was  in  the  shape  of  an  elegant  set  of 
Silver  service,  with  a  handsome  inscription,  finely  engraved. 


TESTIMONIALS. 


TESTIMONIAL  FROM  LADIES  IN  OHIO. 


217 


MOUNT  VERNON.  O.,  Aug.  18,  1870. 

We,  the  undersigned  ladies  of  Mount  Vernon,  Ohio, 
desire  to  express  our  thanks  to  Mrs.  Prof.  Elizabeth  J. 
French  in  a  more  public  manner  than  the  vote  of  thanks 
we  tendered  her  at  the  close  of  her  valuable  hygienic 
and  physical  culture  lectures.  We  do  herein  offer  to 
Mrs.  Dr.  French  our  most  sincere  and  heartfelt  thanks 
for  the  affectionate  interest  she  has  manifested  in  our 
physical  well-being,  for  the  relief  from  suffering  afforded 
many,  and  for  the  important  instructions  imparted  in 
her  lectures,  which  were  based  upon  purely  moral  and 
physiological  principles.  We  desire  to  express  our 
highest  appreciation  of  her  unfailing  skill  as  a  medical 
practitioner,  and  our  utmost  confidence  in  her  ability 
to  sustain  the  position  which  she  takes. 

We  most  cordially  and  earnestly  invite  Mrs.  Prof. 
French  to  again  visit  this  city  at  her  earliest  conve- 
nience, hoping  the  ladies  of  Mount  Vernon  will  then 
have  become  acquainted  with  facts  that  stand  out  in 
bold  relief  before  us,  making  evident  the  utility  of  her 
presence  as  it  regards  the  use  of  electricity,  and  avail 
themselves  of  her  truly  scientific  practice,  which  so  nat- 
urally and  freely  meets  the  necessities  of  our  sex. 

Mrs.  J.  C.  SAPP,  Mrs.  J.  H.  HAMPTON, 
"     L.  N.  NORTON,  "     H.  S.  PORTER, 

"     ALBERT  ELLIS,  "      L.  M.  MITCHIEL, 

"     M.  S.  HYDE,  "     W.  J.  MORTON, 

"     N.  BOYTON,  "     E.  LANE, 

"       M.   L.   COHEN;  "       N.  TlLTON, 

K  IQ 


218 


ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 


Mrs.  E.  MCELROY, 
"     L.  H.  BENEDICT, 
"     S.  W.  LIPPITT, 
"     R.  THOMPSON, 
"     J.  M.  RAWE, 

"      A.  J.   WlANT, 

Miss  LOUISA  REEVES, 
"     ELLA  COHEN, 
"    A.  EVANS, 
"     M.  HODGE, 
"     M.  BEACH, 


Mrs.  S.  BOWERS, 

"     J.  C.  SPENDLER, 

"     E.  J.  REESE, 

"     S.  MARTIN, 

"     L.  WARNER, 

"     M.  R.  NEIPRASCHK, 

"     J.  RUSH, 
Miss  H.  L.  McKiBBEN, 

"     R.  LIPPESK, 

"     L.  BOWERS, 

"    L.  GRAFF, 

and  others. 


CASES   OF   CURE. 


No.  i. 

CURE    OF    AN    OVARIAN   TUMOR    OF    THIRTEEN    YEARS* 
STANDING. 

Case  of  Mrs.  John  C.  Gay,  of  Prospect  Harbor,  Goulds- 
boro,  Maine. 

THE  particulars  of  the  following  wonderful  and 
interesting  case  of  cure,  under  electrical  treatment 
scientifically  applied,  were  furnished  by  the  patient  who 
forms  the  subject  of  the  narrative.  The  names  of  the 
various  physicians  who  were  consulted  in  this  case,  and 
who  pronounced  adverse  opinions  as  to  the  possibility 
of  cure  except  through  a  painful  and  hazardous  surgi- 
cal operation,  are  purposely  withheld,  as  the  publisher's 
desire  is  only  to  forward  the  interests  of  truth  and  sci- 
ence, and  to  bear  faithful  witness  to  the  value  of  elec- 
trical therapeutics,  without  casting  invidious  reflections 
on  the  advocates  of  other  schools  of  practice. 

Mrs.  John  C.  Gay  was  first  treated  medically  for 
ovarian  tumor  in  the  year  1858,  at  which  time  the  case 
presented  a  well-defined  evidence  of  its  nature.  From 
that  year  up  to  1866  the  disease  became  more  and  more 
painfully  developed,  and,  notwithstanding  the  advice 
of  many  well-skilled  physicians  in  various  districts. 

219 


220  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

the  sufferer  continued  to  grow  worse  and  the  symptoms 
to  increase  in  dangerous  and  obstinate  tendency. 

In  the  fall  of  1866,  Mrs.  Gay,  acting  under  the 
advice  of  those  physicians  in  her  own  State  who  felt 
themselves  unable  to  afford  her  relief,  went  to  Boston, 
where  she  submitted  her  case  to  several  of  the  most 
eminent  practitioners  of  the  city.  She  was  at  length 
induced  to  become  a  patient  of  the  City  Hospital,  and 
for  three  years  of  incessant  suffering  Mrs.  Gay  attended 
constantly  to  the  treatment  prescribed  by  the  hospital 
faculty,  but  still  without  obtaining  the  long-sought-for 
alleviation  of  her  dreadful  complaint. 

During  this  distressing  period,  Mrs.  Gay  became 
both  an  out-  and  in-door  patient.  She  submitted  to 
many  examinations,  and  followed  faithfully  the  various 
methods  of  treatment  prescribed  for  her  case.  In  con- 
sequence of  the  continual  state  of  suffering  and  great 
mental  anxiety  which  attended  these  long  years  of  en- 
durance, the  general  condition  of  the  patient's  health 
was  so  reduced  that  the  hospital  surgeons,  who  pro- 
nounced an  operation  the  only  available  method  of 
cure,  declined  to  perform  it  until  the  tone  of  the  system 
had  been  renovated  by  appropriate  treatment. 

During  the  various  examinations  to  which  Mrs.  Gay 
was  subjected,  the  statement  that  she  was  suffering 
from  an  ovarian  tumor  was  constantly  confirmed,  and 
the  opinion  reiterated  that  a  surgical  operation  would 
ultimately  be  the  only  method  of  removing  it. 

In  March,  1867,  Mrs.  Gay  returned  to  Maine,  in  the 
hope  that  her  general  health  might  receive  benefit  from 
the  change.  Failing  in  this  expectation,  she  again  re- 
turned to  Boston,  and  once  more  entered  herself  as  an 


CASES   OF  CUKE.  221 

out-door  patient  of  the  City  Hospital.  It  was  after 
several  additional  months  of  fruitless  medical  treatment 
that  one  of  the  consulting  surgeons  of  the  institution 
frankly  assured  the  patient  that  there  remained  for  her 
no  alternative  but  to  submit  to  the  much-dreaded  oper- 
ation or  prepare  for  death.  Mrs.  Gay  herself  relates 
her  interview  with  the  doctor  in  question,  in  the  fol- 
lowing terms: 

"Mrs.  Gay,"  said  her  adviser,  "it  is  useless  to  dis- 
guise the  fact  that  we  consider  yours  a  very  bad  case, 
and  whilst  we  may  hope  for  a  successful  result  from  an 
operation,  the  risk  of  a  fatal  termination  would  be  very 
great." 

Mrs.  Gay  questioned  this  gentleman  as  to  how  many 
chances  of  success  there  might  be  in  a  case  as  bad  as 
hers. 

The  doctor  replied,  "Not  more  than  one  in  ten." 

The  patient  adds : 

"  This  one  chance  in  ten  I  resolved  not  to  hazard, 
and  feeling  that  I  had  exhausted  the  best  skill  at  my 
command,  and  that  there  was  no  more  hope  for  me, 
in  April,  1869,  I  returned  to  my  home  to  await,  as 
patiently  as  I  could,  the  approach  of  death." 

It  was  in  July,  1871,  that  Dr.  Elizabeth  J.  French, 
professor  of  electrical  therapeutics,  went  to  Winter 
Harbor,  Maine,  to  attend  an  invalid  with  whom  Mrs. 
Gay  was  acquainted.  The  success  which  resulted  from 
Dr.  French's  treatment  induced  her  patient  to  urge 
Mrs.  Gay  to  consult  her  likewise.  Rather  to  satisfy 
the  entreaties  of  her  husband  than  with  any  faith  in  a 
successful  issue,  Mrs.  Gay  at  length  consented  to  visit 
the  professor.  At  that  time  the  tumor  had  become  so 
19* 


222  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

large,  and  such  a  vast  array  of  sympathetic  evils  had 
become  developed  in  the  unfortunate  patient's  system, 
that  her  appearance  was  as  deplorable  as  her  case 
seemed  hopeless.  The  form  was  bent  over  toward  one 
side,  and  the  entire  abdomen,  especially  about  the 
region  of  the  tumor,  was  so  frightfully  swollen  and 
distorted  that  the  sufferer  moved  with  extreme  difficulty, 
and  could  by  no  possibility  assume  an  erect  attitude. 

Dr.  French,  without  inquiring  into  the  details  of  the 
case,  diagnosed  it  by  her  usual  method, — applying  the 
battery  to  different  points  of  the  cranium;  and  after 
pronouncing  the  chief  source  of  difficulty  to  be  a  large 
fibrous  ovarian  tumor,  unhesitatingly  declared  her 
opinion  that  it  could  be  entirely  cured  by  the  scientific 
application  of  electricity. 

After  thirteen  years  of  incessant  suffering  and  fruit- 
less treatment,  after  exhausting,  as  the  patient  herself 
alleged,  "the  best  medical  skill  which  she  could  com- 
mand," and,  upon  the  highest  authority  she  could  con- 
sult, "having  resigned  herself  to  die,"  it  is  no  wonder 
if  Dr.  French's  opinion  at  first  had  but  little  weight. 
That  she  should  have  been  pronounced  incurable  in 
years  past,  when  her  system  was  far  more  liable  to  re- 
cuperation, and  curable  at  a  period  when,  to  use  her 
own  expression,  she  was  "almost  dead,"  seemed  to  the 
poor  patient  more  like  the  utterance  of  presumptuous 
ignorance  than  skillful  science.  Deeming,  however, 
that  her  miserable  condition  was  not  even  susceptible 
of  aggravation,  and  that  no  new  experiments  could 
add  to  the  suffering  she  was  then  enduring,  Mrs.  Gay 
at  last  consented  to  receive  one  electrical  treatment, 
the  result  of  which  encouraged  her  so  highly  that  she 


CASES   OF  CURE. 


223 


submitted  to  several  succeeding  treatments,  and  at  the 
end  of  ten  days  from  the  time  of  her  examination  she 
found  she  was  able  to  stand  nearly  straight,  and  the 
size  of  the  abdomen  was  reduced  quite  eight  inches  in 
circumference. 

After  four  weeks  of  treatment  with  Prof.  French, 
Mrs.  Gay  affirms  that  the  tumor  had  almost  entirely 
disappeared,  whilst  her  general  health  became  so  much 
improved  that  she  was  able  to  dispense  with  the  doc- 
tor's attendance.  Mrs.  Gay  then  purchased  a  battery 
and  continued  to  treat  herself  in  the  manner  pre- 
scribed by  Dr.  French,  and  in  the  August  of  1872 
testified  to  the  efficacy  of  the  cure  which  had  been 
wrought  upon  her,  in  the  following  words : 

"I  have  at  this  time  no  sign  of  tumor.  I  am  as 
well — able  to  work,  walk,  run,  and  perform  my  house- 
hold duties — as  I  was  twenty  years  ago,  and  I  am  en- 
gaged in  applying  the  same  great  remedial  agent  to 
others  as  I  have  benefited  from  myself.  I  have  now 
the  great  satisfaction  of  relieving  many  from  suffering, 
and  can  truly  say  I  thank  God  for  electricity  and  Dr. 
French. 

"  MRS.  J.  C.  GAY, 
"  PROSPECT  HARBOR,  GOULDSBORO,  ME." 


224  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

No.  2. 

CURE  OF  SCROFULOUS  SORE  EYES,  AND  RESTORATION 
FROM  PARTIAL  AND  OCCASIONAL  TOTAL  BLINDNESS, 
BY  ELECTRICAL  THERAPEUTICS. 

Testimony  of  H.   W.  Phillips,  Esq.,  of  Wheeling,  West 
Va.,  in  the  Case  of  his  Child. 

The  following  striking  case  illustrates  most  forcibly 
the  value  of  electrical  treatment  scientifically  applied, 
not  only  as  a  restorative  under  one  of  the  worst  calami- 
ties that  can  afflict  the  race,  namely,  loss  of  sight, 
but  also  proves  how  far  such  a  method  of  practice  be- 
comes effective  ;  in  fact,  the  last  resort  of  science,  when 
all  other  curative  means  are  at  fault.  As  nothing  can 
add  to  the  convincing  character  of  personal  testimony 
in  strange  and  unusual  instances,  we  shall  here  subjoin 
the  candid  and  straightforward  statement  of  the  party 
most  nearly  interested,  namely,  the  father  of  the 
afflicted  child.  It  must  be  premised  that  the  gentle- 
man whose  testimony  is  thus  cited  was  not  only  a 
stranger  to  Dr.  Elizabeth  J.  French,  but,  in  the  com- 
mencement of  his  little  girl's  treatment  by  that  lady, 
was  prejudiced  against  her  practice,  and  the  child's  ex- 
amination in  her  initiatory  visit  was  undertaken  against 
his  wishes ;  also,  it  should  be  remarked,  that  the  little 
patient's  condition  was  one  of  several  years'  standing, 
and  that  all  attempts  at  alleviation  by  the  regular  fac- 
ulty had  been  sought  in  many  places,  and  through 
many  systems  of  medical  practice,  in  vain. 


CASES  OF  CURE.  225 

Extracts  from  a  Letter,  dated  Wheeling,  January  7, 1870. 

"Our  child,  when  first  treated  by  Dr.  Elizabeth  J. 
French  last  fall,  had  scrofulous  sore  eyes,  and  at  times 
was  totally  blind.  She  had  been  under  the  care  of 
some  of  the  most  eminent  physicians,  and  they  had 
been  unable  to  cure  her  after  a  trial  of  three  years. 
For  several  months  previous  to  her  treatment  by  Dr. 
French,  she  had  been  totally  blind.  Even  under  the 
first  manipulation  at  the  doctor's  hands,  the  little  suf- 
ferer was  enabled  to  dispense  with  her  bandage,  and 
enjoyed  a  partial  return  of  her  eyesight."  Mr.  Phillips 
continues  :  "  In  a  short  time  she  had  her  eyes  opened, 
with  all  the  inflammation  removed;  a-nd  in  about  a 
month's  time  she  was  entirely  cured.  Ever  since  then 
she  has  been  able  to  bear  her  eyes  exposed  to  the  light, 
which  before  she  could  not  endure.  For  several  months 
previous  to  Dr.  French's  treatment,  she  had  not  only 
been  deprived  of  sight,  but  was  obliged  to  be  shut  up 
in  a  dark  room  with  her  eyes  constantly  bandaged.  I 
have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  if  we  had  not  ap- 
plied to  Dr.  French,  and  used  her  electrical  treatment, 
our  child  would  now  be  blind." 

Mrs.  Phillips,  the  little  girl's  mother,  who  had  also 
been  a  great  sufferer  for  many  years,  and  sought  relief 
from  many  physicians  in  vain,  at  length  became  a 
patient  of  Dr.  French's;  and  in  reference  to  the  results 
of  her  treatment,  her  husband  writes  thus  in  the  con- 
cluding part  of  the  letter  quoted  above  : 

"Mrs.  Phillips  was  also  under  Dr.  French's  treat- 
ment for  a  combination  of  diseases,  and  was  very 
much  benefited  by  her;  but,  as  some  of  her  diffi- 

JC* 


226  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

culties  were  of  long  standing,  Dr.  French  advised  her 
to  purchase  a  battery  and  continue  its  use.  Mrs. 
Phillips  still  perseveres  in  the  treatment  prescribed  and 
directed  by  Dr.  French,  and  improves  so  manifestly, 
that  I  am  in  hopes  she  will  be  entirely  restored.  Dr. 
French  whilst  here  cured  a  number  of  other  persons 
of  different  complaints,  to  my  certain  knowledge. 
"Respectfully  yours, 

"H.  W.  PHILLIPS. 

"  WHEELING,  WEST  VA.,  January  7,  1870." 

In  1872,  two  years  later  than  the  date  of  the  above 
fetter,  Dr.  French  revisited  Wheeling,  and  found  the 
little  girl's  eyes  still  continued  well ;  in  fact,  per- 
manently restored  to  their  normal  condition. 


No.  3. 

CASE  OF  COMPLICATED  UTERINE  DIFFICULTIES,  AND 
INTERNAL  INJURIES  OF  EIGHTEEN  YEARS*  STANDING, 
CURED  BY  ELECTRICAL  TREATMENT. 

If  the  claims  set  forth  in  this  volume,  for  the  superior 
efficacy  of  electricity  over  all  other  known  curative 
agents,  may  appear  liable  to  doubt,  or  susceptible  of 
denial,  the  reader  is  referred  to  the  details  of  the  follow- 
ing highly  important  and  interesting  cases,  the  perusal 
of  which  cannot  fail  to  command  attention  even  from 
the  most  skeptical. 

Although,  for  obvious  reasons,  the  name  of  the  lady 
whose  case  is  herewith  detailed  cannot  be  published, 
the  list  of  respectable  referees  attached  to  this  work  must 


CASES   OF  CURE. 


227 


prove  a  sufficient  guarantee  for  the  strict  authenticity 
of  every  statement  it  contains. 

Mrs. ,  formerly  of  Massachusetts,  was  endowed 

with  an  exceedingly  fragile  temperament  even  from  her 
earliest  youth. 

Being  developed  into  premature  womanhood  at  the 
age  of  twelve  years,  her  own  description  of  the  suffer- 
ings she  subsequently  endured  in  the  form  of  female 
weaknesses,  renders  it  likely  that  some  years  antecedent 
to  her  marriage  she  was  afflicted  with  falling  of  the 
womb. 

The  lack  of  physiological  knowledge,  so  ignorantly 
withheld  in  the  education  of  our  young  women,  ren- 
dered the  sufferer  unaware  of  her  condition,  and  prob- 
ably tended  to  confirm  it  into  a  chronic  malady. 

About  the  age  of  twenty-four  the  young  lady  became 

the  wife  of  Mr.  ,  and  shortly  afterwards  miscarried 

after  only  a  few  weeks'  pregnancy. 

From  the  effects  of  this  sickness  Mrs.  did  not 

recover  for  several  months,  and  when  she  again  gave 
promise  of  becoming  a  mother,  her  sufferings  during 
the  whole  period  of  gestation  were  most  acute  and  con- 
tinuous. 

During  the  five  months  before  the  birth  of  her  child 
Mrs. was  unable  to  rise  from  her  bed,  dress  her- 
self, or  undertake  the  slightest  amount  of  exertion. 

Early  in  the  eighth  month  of  pregnancy  the  suffer- 
ing lady  gave  birth  to  a  child,  after  some  thirty-six 
hours  of  severe  and  unmitigated  labor-pains.  The 
delivery  was  what  is  commonly  called  a  cross-birth, 
only  effected  at  last  by  instruments,  and  the  attending 
physician  declared,  the  fact  that  the  lives  of  mother 


228  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

and  child  were  both  preserved  under  these  adverse  cir- 
cumstances was  little  short  of  a  miracle.  It  has  sub- 
sequently been  stated  by  the  patient  herself  that  no 
bandages  or  compressions  were  applied  to  reunite  the 
parts  torn,  lacerated,  and  unnaturally  distended  by  the 
distressing  conditions  of  such  a  delivery;  and  that 
during  the  months  of  intense  agony  that  succeeded, 
the  foundations  were  laid,  from  which  arose  a  com- 
plication of  disorders,  which  became  chronic,  in  the 
regions  of  the  uterus,  bladder,  liver,  all  the  abdominal 
organs,  and,  by  sympathy,  in  the  action  of  the  heart 
and  respiratory  organs. 

For  eighteen  years  Mrs.  was  a  constant  and 

acute  sufferer,  whether  from  the  effects  of  organic  dis- 
abilities peculiar  to  her  system,  whether  from  the  want 
of  proper  medical  treatment  immediately  after  the  birth 
of  her  child,  or  a  combination  of  both  circumstances,  we 
do  not  presume  to  say.  Suffice  it  that  after  eighteen 
years  from  the  period  of  delivery  the  uterine  passage 
was  still  unclosed,  and  the  laceration  and  exposure  of  the 
maternal  organs  presented  an  appearance  that  might 
well  have  resulted  from  a  delivery  of  only  a  few  hours. 

In  the  mean  time  the  unfortunate  lady  had  become 
the  patient  successively  of  several  of  the  most  eminent 
physicians  of  Massachusetts,  and  the  expenses  attend- 
ing the  various  experiments  practiced  upon  her  during 
her  eighteen  years  of  incessant  martyrdom  amounted, 
as  we  have  her  husband's  warrant  for  asserting,  to  sev- 
eral thousands  of  dollars.  For  the  last  five  years  of  this 

most  painful  experience,  Mrs. was  wholly  confined 

to  her  bed.  Every  part  of  her  organism  was  afflicted 
in  sympathy  with  the  main  source  of  suffering.  Utter 


CASES   OP  CURE. 


229 


prostration,  agonizing  pains  in  every  orgart>  disease  in 
almost  every  shape,  seemed  so  entirely  to  possess  the 
frame,  that  the  chief  miracle  of  the  whole  narrative  is, 
that  the  vital  forces  could  have  been  sustained  at  all 
under  such  afflicting  conditions. 

In  1871,  after  eighteen  years'  experience  of  the  above 

character,  Mrs. ,  yielding  to  the  advice  of  a  friend, 

consented  to  receive  a  visit  from  Dr.  French,  then 
entirely  unknown  to  her,  and  submit  to  an  examina- 
tion by  the  doctor's  method  of  electrical  diagnosis. 

In  addition  to  several  organic  difficulties,  arising  in 
part  from  functional  obstructions  and  nervous  sym- 
pathy, Dr.  French  found  in  the  case  of  Mrs.  a 

well-defined  condition  of  prolapsus  uteri, — the  body  of 
the  uterus  being  enlarged  to  about  six  times  the  ordinary 
size,  and  the  os  distended  either  way  to  an  enormous 
extent.  There  was  a  considerable  enlargement  and 
advanced  condition  of  fibrous  tumor  in  the  left  ovary; 
considerable  inflammation  of  the  bladder  and  kidneys; 
general  disarrangement  of  the  digestive  organs  ; 
highly  inflamed  condition  of  the  liver  and  spleen  ;  a 
considerable  enlargement  of  the  heart,  and  consequent 
distress  in  the  respiratory  organs.  There  were  three 
large  encephaloid  tumors  about  the  neck,  and  the  whole 
body  was  swelled  to  enormous  proportions. 

Dr.  French  made  a  diagnosis  of  this  complicated 
case  on  the  loth  of  March,  1871.  The  patient  was 
then  lying  propped  up  in  that  bed  to  which  she  had 
been  imprisoned  for  upwards  of  five  years.  Dr.  French 
concluded  her  examination  by  unhesitatingly  declaring 
that  she  could  put  Mrs.  -  —  on  her  feet  in  less  than 
three  months. 


230  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

Dr.  French's  first  electrical  treatment  was  applied  in 
this  case  on  the  i2th  of  March,  and  continued  steadily 
every  day  for  seven  weeks,  at  the  expiration  of  which 

time  Mrs.  was  so  far  recovered  that  she  traveled 

six  miles  to  the  city  where  Dr.  French  resided,  to  re- 
ceive her  treatment  nearer  the  doctor's  residence.  On 
the  26th  of  May,  about  ten  weeks  from  the  commence- 
ment of  Dr.  French's  treatment,  the  patient  undertook 
the  journey  from  Boston,  Mass.,  to  Atlanta,  Ga., — 
and  not  only  performed  it  with  ease  and  comfort  to 
herself,  but  her  general  health  became  benefited  by  the 
change.  The  patient  subsequently  purchased  a  battery, 
and  in  her  absence  from  Dr.  French,  continued  to  use 
it  as  directed. 

These  treatments,  together  with  an  occasional  ap- 
plication of  electricity  from  the  doctor,  have  completely 
destroyed  the  tumorous  condition  of  the  ovary,  re- 
stored the  uterus  to  its  usual  size,  and  reduced  the 
induration.  The  accompanying  symptoms  of  acute 
suffering  and  local  distress  in  all  the  other  organs  have 
disappeared  ;  the  abdomen  has  become  reduced  at 
least  twenty  inches  in  circumference.  The  encephaloid 
tumors  are  reduced  from  a  size  which  would  have  filled 
a  half-pint  measure  to  mere  kernel-like  indurations ; 
and  now,  in  February  1872,  the  patient  performs  all 
her  usual  household  avocations,  walks,  travels,  and 
enjoys  as  fair  a  share  of  health  as  any  lady  with  a 
naturally  delicate  organism  could  be  expected  to  do ; 
and  although  continued  treatments  are  still  deemed 
necessary  to  rebuild  the  organs  that  have  been  for  so 
many  years  abused  by  experimental  practices  and  their 
vitality  sopped  by  disease,  the  lady  herself  passes  among 


CASES   OF  CURE.  231 

her  acquaintance  and  friends  as  one  restored  from  the 
dead,  and  one  of  the  most  forcible  living  illustrations 
that  the  world  can  produce  of  the  efficacy  of  electrical 
therapeutics  scientifically  applied  as  the  last  best  resort 
of  those  afflicted  by  disease. 


No.  4. 

MALIGNANT   PUSTULE. 

"This  disease,  fortunately,  is  of  rare  occurrence, 
since,  in  a  large  majority  of  cases,  it  terminates  fatally 
in  from  twenty-four  to  thirty-six  hours.  The  origin  or 
cause  of  the  disease  is  not  well  defined  or  understood. 
The  French  physicians,  who  term  it  pustule  maligne, 
had  for  a  time  the  theory  that  it  resulted  from  the  bite 
of  a  fly  that  had  recently  been  feeding  upon  decom- 
posed animal  matter,  since  its  action  upon  the  system 
so  much  resembled  the  poison  communicated  some- 
times to  medical  students  in  the  dissecting-room  from 
the  cut  or  scratch  of  a  knife.  This  theory  was  aban- 
doned, however,  when  a  case  occurred  where  it  was 
known  that  by  no  possibility  could  a  fly  or  flies  have 
approached  the  patient.  All  agree,  however,  in  pro- 
nouncing it  a  most  virulent  poison,  soon  entering  the 
circulation  and  terminating  in  death,  unless  arrested  in 
its  first  stages.  It  comes  in  the  form  of  a  small  watery 
pimple,  exceedingly  painful  from  almost  the  first  mo- 
ment,— generally  about  the  face, — near  the  nose  or  on 
the  lips, — but  sometimes  on  other  portions  of  the  body. 


232 


ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 


"  In  the  autumn  of  1859,  about  ten  o'clock  one  night, 
I  felt  a  painful,  pricking  sensation  in  the  middle  finger 
of  the  right  hand,  near  the  nail.  I  had  been  engaged 
during  the  evening  in  some  work,  when  I  might  have 
driven  a  splinter  into  my  finger,  and,  supposing  I  had 
done  so,  took  out  rny  knife  to  remove  it.  I  found  only 
a  small  watery  pimple,  from  which,  upon  pricking  and 
squeezing,  a  single  drop  of  greenish  water  exuded. 
My  greatest  surprise  was  in  the  exceeding  painfulness 
of  so  apparently  small  a  matter;  but  not  dreaming 
there  was  any  especial  danger  to  be  apprehended,  I 
wrapped  around  it  a  cloth  saturated  in  a  simple  lini- 
ment, and  went  to  bed. 

"In  the  morning  it  was  very  painful, — the  finger 
swollen  and  stiff,  and  the  pimple  or  spot — about  the 
size  of  a  large  pin-head — of  a  purple  color.  I  applied 
a  poultice,  and  took  no  further  notice  of  it  until  about 
three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  when  my  attention  was 
arrested  by  a  strange,  burning  sensation  running  up 
my  arm  in  regular  pulsations,  and  flashing  to  the  heart, 
followed  immediately  by  a  chill.  The  sensation  was 
so  strange  and  painful  that  I  felt,  instinctively,  danger 
approaching  in  some  form.  I  went  immediately  to 
Dr.  French,  No.  8  Fourth  Avenue,  New  York.  She 
seemed  at  once  to  apprehend  the  case,  and  ordered  an 
electric  vapor-bath  prepared  instantly.  I  had  been 
seated  perhaps  three  minutes  when  told  my  bath  was 
ready.  I  rose  to  go  to  it,  took  one  or  two  steps,  and 
fell  fainting  to  the  floor;  was  told  afterwards  that  I 
had  a  hard  fit,  with  frothing  at  the  mouth.  I  am  told 
I  was  unconscious  some  ten  minutes.  I  then,  with 
assistance,  reached  the  bath,  and  had  a  strong  current 


CASES   OF  CUKE. 


233 


of  electricity  applied  down  the  arm.  I  remained  in 
the  bath  some  fifteen  minutes,  and  although  the  tem- 
perature was  much  higher  than  I  have  ever  taken  it 
before  or  since,  viz.,  140°  Fahrenheit,  I  was  chilly. 
While  I  was  in  the  bath,  an  eminent  physician  and 
personal  friend  was  sent  for.  He  arrived  soon  after  I 
came  out  of  the  bath,  and  while  reclining  upon  a 
lounge  and  having  electricity  applied,  he  unhesita- 
tingly pronounced  it  malignant  pustule,  and  com- 
menced cauterizing  the  sore  with  nitrate  of  silver  as  a 
counteracting  poison.  Dr.  French  had  prepared  poul- 
tices of  bran  and  vinegar,  and  during  the  evening  and 
through  the  night  electricity  was  almost  constantly 
applied,  with  poultices  frequently  changed  and  applied 
quite  hot,  with  occasional  cauterizations.  During  the 
night  I  was  partially  insane.  Early  next  morning  the 
physician  alluded  to  brought  with  him  an  old  and  emi- 
nent practitioner.  This  physician  saw  no  hope,  and 
felt  that  further  effort  was  useless.  My  friend — the 
first  physician — then  advised  Dr.  French  to  telegraph 
at  once  to  my  brother,  who  was  out  of  the  city,  that  I 
could  not  live  many  hours.  Mrs.  French  replied, 
'No,  doctor,  he  will  not  die.  Electricity  will  save 
him.' 

"During  this  entire  day  and  until  near  midnight, 
although  the  applications  of  electricity  were  almost 
incessant,  no  positive  evidence  of  a  change  occurred. 
About  this  time,  however,  the  rigidity  of  the  muscles 
began  to  relax;  the  color  of  the  skin  changed  and 
assumed  a  more  life-like  hue.  I  grew  warm,  and  soon, 
under  the  influence  of  electricity,  a  profuse  perspira- 
tion broke  out,  and  by  morning  I  was  pronounced  out 
20* 


234 


ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 


of  danger  by  the  physicians  who  had  given  me  up  the 
day  before.  It  was  many  days,  however,  before  the 
poison  was  entirely  expelled  from  the  system  and  I 
was  fully  restored  to  health  and  strength. 

"About  the  time  of  my  attack  two  cases  occurred, — • 
one  in  the  city  of  New  York  and  one  in  Brooklyn  ; 
and  both  terminated  fatally,  although  treated  by  un- 
questionable medical  skill.  I  have  no  hesitation,  there- 
fore, in  asserting,  as  my  positive  conviction,  that  I  owe 
my  escape  from  death  with  this  terrible  disease  to  the 
scientific  applications  of  electricity  by  Dr.  Elizabeth  J. 
French. 

"T.   CULBERTSON. 

"  PHILADELPHIA,  March  17,  1873." 


No.  5. 

From  the  Fort  Wayne,  Indiana,  Democrat. 
SUN-STROKE. 

"  Mrs.  Professor  French  has  met  with  no  inconsider- 
able success  in  her  treatment  of  diseases  by  electricity. 
We  are  handed  the  following,  and  can  say  in  regard  to 
it,  that  we  know  the  subscriber  to  be  an  actual  resident 
of  this  city,  and  a  man  that  could  not  be  influenced  by 
love  or  money  to  make  a  statement  other  than  the  truth. 
(Editor  '  Fort  Wayne  Democrat. ' ) 

"  I  have  been  suffering  intensely  from  a  partial  sun- 
stroke, received  some  two  years  ago  in  Cincinnati,  O., 
and  have  applied  to  many  physicians  for  relief  without 
avail.  I  commenced  treatment  with  Mrs.  Professor 


CASES   OF  CURE. 


235 


French,  May  17,  1870,  and  after  three  electric  ap- 
plications felt  great  relief,  and  am  now  (May  27) 
almost  entirely  free  from  pain.  I  know  that  my  case, 
pronounced  by  some  of  our  best  physicians  incurable, 
has  been  greatly  benefited,  and  I  feel  that  this  doctor 
has  done  me  more  good  in  this  short  time  than  all  the 
rest  put  together  for  the  last  two  years. 

"A.  J.  PlCKINS, 

"Fort  Wayne,  Indiana" 


No.  6. 

RHEUMATISM,     RESULTING    IN    SEVERE    MUSCULAR     CON- 
TRACTION  OF   THE   LOWER   LIMBS. 

James  Gordman,  Canada  West,  had  been  a  martyr 
to  rheumatism  almost  from  childhood,  and  for  eleven 
years  the  muscles  of  his  lower  limbs  were  so  contracted 
and  drawn  that  his  heels  rested  upon  his  hips.  He  had 
spent  four  years  in  the  hospitals  of  Paris,  and  three 
years  in  an  English  hospital,  and  was  discharged  as 
incurable.  In  1852,  in  his  thirty-second  year,  he 
was  brought  to  me  in  New  York  City.  In  his  case  I 
used  the  vapor-bath  in  connection  with  electricity, 
treating  him  every  day, — one  day  electricity  without 
the  bath,  and  on  alternate  days  electricity  in  connec- 
tion with  the  bath ;  and  I  will  here  add  that  the  elec- 
tric vapor-bath,  properly  administered,  is  most  valuable 
in  most  cases,  and  in  some  almost  indispensable.  In 
five  weeks  Mr.  Gordman  was  so  far  restored  that  he 
could  walk  quite  well  with  the  simple  aid  of  a  cane 


236  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

only ;  was  free  from  pain,  and  his  general  health  quite 
toned  up.  Through  me  he  obtained  a  battery  (not 
nearly  so  effective  as  the  present  improved  Kiddei 
battery,  but  the  best  then  in  use),  returned  to  Canada, 
followed  up  the  electric  treatment  in  accordance  with 
written  instructions  from  me,  and  has  not  only  entirely 
recovered,  but  has  himself  treated,  cured,  or  relieved 
many  others. 

E.  J.  FRENCH. 


No.  7. 

TESTIMONY     OF      MRS.      EMMA     HARDINGE     BRITTEN,     THE 
CELEBRATED    LECTURER,    ON    THE    CURE    OF  A  THROAT 
DISEASE    AND    THE    RECOVERY    OF    HER    VOICE. 
[From  the  ''Philadelphia  Press"  of  March  7,  1873.] 

"  PHILADELPHIA,  March  7,  1873. 
"  To  THE  EDITOR  OF  THE  '  PRESS'  : 

"  SIR, — Although  a  foreigner  in  your  country,  and 
only  a  temporary  sojourner  in  this  city,  I  am  suffi- 
ciently acquainted  with  its  journalistic  literature  to 
appreciate  the  broad  and  catholic  tone  of  '  The  Press' 
in  relation  to  all  the  mooted  questions  of  the  day. 
Believing  that  the  editor  of  such  a  journal  will  accept 
of  such  suggestions  as  tend  to  the  evolution  of  new 
ideas,  uninfluenced  by  crafts,  cliques,  parties,  or  sects, 
I  earnestly  solicit  the  use  of  your  columns  in  calling  the 
attention  of  large-hearted  and  large-brained  members 
of  the  medical  faculty  to  a  phase  of  electrical  science 
calculated  to  unravel  a  profound  problem,  and  present 
an  invaluable  contribution  to  the  realms  of  therapeutic 
art.  If  I  understand  aright  the  position  of  medical 


CASES   OF  CUKE. 


237 


men,  the  chief  obstacle  to  their  success  in  ameliorating 
the  sufferings  of  the  race  are,  first,  the  lack  of  a  more 
exact  method  in  diagnosing  disease  than  a  reliance  on 
the  superficial  signs  afforded  by  symptoms.  Next,  they 
fail  to  arrive  at  any  specific  method  by  which  they  can 
deal  directly  with  the  causes  rather  than  the  effects  of 
physical  disturbances.  For  many  years  past  I  have 
been  interested  in  observing  the  efforts  of  the  more 
progressive  members  of  the  medical  faculty  in  England, 
France,  Germany,  and  America  to  place  therapeutic 
science  on  the  basis  of  reliable  principles,  both  in  the 
diagnosis  and  treatment  of  disease. 

"  I  know  it  is  the  popular  belief  that  medical  practi- 
tioners desire  to  veil  their  art  behind  the  mask  of  lingual 
mystery,  besides  acting  in  sundry  other  ways  more  cal- 
culated to  extend  the  sphere  of  their  practice  than  the 
circle  of  their  knowledge;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  I 
know  that  there  are  many  noble  and  progressive  minds 
in  the  medical  ranks  who  have  been  long  and  faithfully 
seeking  to  convert  probabilities  into  certainties,  and 
symptomatic  indications  into  infallible  diagnoses. 

"Among  these  progressionists  I  have  noticed  that 
medical  electricity  has  found  much  favor,  and  that 
many  of  the  most  eminent  men  in  the  profession  re- 
cognize it  as  a  valuable  adjunct  in  their  practice.  I 
presume  there  are  many  who  have  thus  realized  the 
value  of  electricity  in  special  cases,  but  who  have  felt 
baffled  by  its  uncertainty  of  action  in  others. 

"  I  know  that  strenuous  efforts  have  been  made  to 
discover  such  varying  currents  of  electricity  as  would 
produce  different  results  on  different  conditions  of  dis- 
ease :  and  I  also  know  how  much  the  value  of  elec- 


238  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

tricity  as  a  remedial  agent  has  been  lessened  by  the 
unscrupulous  practices  of  the  ignorant  and  the  hap 
hazard  application  of  the  battery  to  all  manner  of  dis- 
eases by  unscientific  charlatans.  As  I  have  myself 
'suffered  many  things  at  the  hands  of  the  physicians,' 
and  submitted  to  be  experimented  upon  by  French, 
German,  and  English  electricians,  until  the  greatest 
marvel  of  their  unscientific  practice  is  that  I  am  now 
alive  to  protest  against  it,  so  I  respectfully  submit  that 
I  have  some  right  to  be  heard  when  I  affirm  that  this 
beautiful  Quaker  City  contains  within  its  limits  the 
long-sought-for  solution  to  the  problem  of  medical 
electrical  science,  and  that  here,  in  this  great  emporium 
of  therapeutic  art,  resides  a  comparatively  unknown 
practitioner,  who,  after  twenty-five  years  of  patient 
study  and  constant  experience  in  the  application  of 
electricity  as  a  remedial  agent,  has  discovered  the  laws 
which  make  its  application  a  mathematical  certainty, 
whether  in  the  diagnosis  or  treatment  of  disease.  One 
of  the  specialties  of  this  lady's  discovery  is  her  remark- 
able power  to  find  '  all  the  diseases  to  which  flesh  is 
heir1  mapped  out  on  the  brain,  so  that  by  the  applica- 
tion of  electricity  to  the  cranium  she  describes  the  con- 
dition of  the  organism  with  unfailing  precision.  Her 
methods  of  treatment  also  are  based  upon  the  adapta- 
tion of  different  currents  to  different  tissues,  organs, 
and  diseases,  and,  as  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  observe, 
every  disease  that  is  curable  can  by  this  method  be  con- 
quered. The  fact  that  this  lady  can  teach  her  method 
to  her  pupils,  in  the  form  of  a  regular  system,  is  a  proof 
that  her  claims  are  susceptible  of  demonstration,  and 
based  upon  the  procedures  of  fundamental  principles. 


CASES   OF  CURE, 


239 


"As  the  remarkable  phase  of  therapeutics  to  which 
I  am  calling  attention  involves  the  possibility  of  revo- 
lutionizing the  whole  realm  of  science  in  that  direction, 
I  will  ask  permission  to  add  an  item  of  personal  expe- 
rience which  may  serve  to  illustrate  the  working  of  the 
system,  and  define  the  ground  upon  which  I  ask  credit 
for  my  statements. 

"Some  twenty  years  ago,  whilst  studying  singing  at 
the  Royal  Academies  of  Music  in  London,  Paris,  and 
Milan,  my  throat  became  seriously  affected,  and  I  was 
compelled  to  relinquish  my  profession  as  a  vocalist. 
At  the  Royal  Haymarket  Theatre,  London,  where  I 
subsequently  became  a  performer,  I  still  found  my 
voice  injured  by  the  complaint  with  which  I  suffered. 
As  one  of  'Her  Majesty's  servants,'  I  was  entitled  to 
attendance  from  Mr.  Liston,  Sir  Benjamin  Brodie,  and 
other  medical  men  eminent  in  their  profession,  to 
whom  my  case  became  a  subject  of  interest. 

"After  a  succession  of  painful  surgical  operations, 
none  of  which  were  effectual  in  restoring  my  voice,  I 
was  advised,  as  the  only  means  of  checking  the  progress 
of  rapid  pulmonary  consumption,  to  take  a  long  sea 
voyage.  Realizing  the  hopelessness  of  my  case,  and 
the  objection  my  medical  attendants  must  feel  to  see  a 
well-known  artiste  die  under  their  hands,  I  followed 
this  advice,  and  made  a  voyage  to  America.  Shortly 
after  my  arrival  in  New  York,  I  attempted  to  resume 
my  profession  by  giving  public  readings;  but  the 
difficulties  in  my  throat,  although  temporarily  modified 
by  my  voyage,  returned  with  such  force  that  my  physi- 
cian, Dr.  A.  D.  Wilson,  of  New  York,  decided  that 
any  continuance  of  vocal  efforts  might  terminate  fatally 


240 


ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 


in  a  few  weeks.  It  was  at  this  juncture  that  I  was  ad- 
vised to  consult  an  electric  physician.  Being  imbued 
with  strong  prejudices  against  electricians  in  general, 
and  female  doctors  in  particular,  I  followed  the  advice 
tendered  me  with  great  reluctance,  and  anything  but 
a  predisposition  in  its  favor.  Before  my  examination 
was  ended,  however,  my  unreasonable  prejudices  were 
entirely  removed.  The  lady  I  visited  not  only  diag- 
nosed my  case  with  marvelous  precision,  but  promised 
me  a  cure. 

"In  one  month  after  the  prediction  of  my  early 
death  and  burial,  my  throat  was  sufficiently  restored 
by  electric  treatment  to  enable  me  to  undertake  long 
and  arduous  representations  at  the  Broadway  Theatre, 
and  within  three  months  from  the  time  of  my  first 
treatment,  I  commenced  my  career  as  a  public  lecturer, 
in  which  capacity  I  have  continued  for  the  last  sixteen 
years,  speaking,  on  an  average,  five  times  a  week,  and 
filling  your  own  Academy  of  Music,  and  many  of  the 
largest  halls  in  the  States,  without  the  slightest  fatigue 
or  inconvenience. 

"I  would  not  be  guilty  of  thus  egotistically  citing 
my  own  experiences,  did  not  my  public  position  enable 
me  to  refer  to  great  numbers  of  well-known  persons, 
both  in  Europe  and  America,  in  verification  of  my 
statements.  My  professional  career  in  London  and 
Paris  seemed  to  stereotype  the  circumstances  of  my 
case  upon  the  minds  of  many  eminent  medical  men, 
so  that,  when  I  returned  to  London  some  six  years 
since,  and  exhibited  my  recovered  powers  of  voice  in 
public  addresses  to  several  thousands  of  people,  ex- 
pressions of  astonishment  greeted  me  from  all  who 


CASES  OF  CURE. 


241 


remembered  me,  and  had  reason  to  believe  those 
powers  had  been  sacrificed  to  unsuccessful  surgical 
operations. 

"In  my  own  person,  then,  sir,  I  am  an  illustration 
of  the  beneficial  effects  of  electricity  scientifically 
applied,  and  when  others  complain  that  they  have 
failed  to  improve, — and  some  even  affirm  that  they 
have  suffered  injury  from  its  use, — could  I  feel  jus- 
tified if,  from  any  feeling  of  personal  reticence,  I 
withheld  from  the  community  the  knowledge  that  the 
clue  was  found  which  would  make  the  application  of 
this  force  as  certain  as  the  working  of  the  Atlantic 
cable,  and  its  action  as  reliable  as  the  theorems  of 
mathematics  ? 

"  Having  devoted  much  time  to  the  study  of  medi- 
cine myself,  I  have  frequently  been  urged  by  my 
teachers  to  devote  myself  wholly  to  its  practice;  but, 
like  Hahnemann,  I  have  'felt  despair  at  the  total  lack 
of  any  reliable  system  of  diagnosing  disease,'  and  so 
little  faith  in  any  modes  of  treatment  which  paltered 
with  the  effects,  rather  than  the  causes  of  physical  dis- 
turbances, that,  like  that  great  philosopher,  I  should 
infallibly  'have  deemed  it  my  duty  to  put  on  mourning 
for  every  patient  who  might  die  under  my  hands.'  It 
was  with  these  views  that  I,  last  summer,  attended  some 
classes  in  Boston,  where  I  found  the  lady  to  whom  I 
owed  the  recovery  of  my  voice  reading  off,  with  un- 
varying accuracy,  the  physical  disturbances  in  her 
patients'  systems  by  cranial  applications  of  electricity, 
and  through  the  same  force  producing  cures  which 
were  truly  marvelous.  At  first  I  was  disposed  to 
attribute  these  unusual  powers  to  certain  superterres- 
L  21 


242  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

trial  sources  with  which  I  am  myself  very  familiar,  but 
on  this  point  the  lady  soon  convinced  me  of  my  error. 
She  not  only  claimed,  but  absolutely  demonstrated,  to 
me  the  fact,  that  her  methods  are  based  upon  purely 
scientific  principles  and  electrical  laws  which  she  has 
discovered  in  twenty-five  years  of  deep  research  and 
patient  experiment.  She  showed  me  that  different 
currents  can  be  evolved  from  carefully-constructed  bat- 
teries, and  adapted,  with  invariable  results,  to  different 
characters  of  disease. 

"Some  of  this  lady's  methods  I  have  myself  studied 
and  verified.  I  have  examined  the  improvements  sug- 
gested by  her  in  the  mechanism  of  the  batteries  she 
uses ;  proved  the  variety  of  the  currents  she  claims, 
and  watched  the  success  of  their  action  upon  different 
organs  and  tissues.  I  have  learned  from  her  the  law 
by  which  we  can  discover  all  the  conditions  of  the 
organism,  whether  in  health  or  disease,  mapped  out 
upon  the  brain,  and  though  it  may  take  a  lifetime  to 
arrive  at  the  skill  and  precision  achieved  by  the  dis- 
coverer of  the  system  herself,  I  have  seen  enough  to 
assure  me  she  has  opened  up  a  new  path  in  electrical 
and  anthropological  science,  the  end  of  which  must 
conduct  us  into  fields  of  grand  and  untrodden  dis- 
covery. 

"  I  have  already  trespassed  too  long  upon  your 
columns,  Mr.  Editor,  whilst  dilating  on  the  interesting 
experiments  in  which  I  have  been  a  favored  partici- 
pant ;  but  I  have  felt  it  incumbent  on  me  to  make 
some  effort  to  bring  these  profound  indications  of 
progress  in  medical  science  before  the  community,  and 
I  know  of  no  method  so  effective  as  to  lay  them  before 


CASES  OF  CUKE.  243 

your  numerous  readers,  and  appeal  to  your  generous 
and  candid  spirit  of  journalism  to  enable  me  to  do  so. 

"I  am  not  now  acting  under  the  authority  of  the 
lady,  Mrs.  E.  J.  French,  whose  discoveries  I  record 
through  your  columns,  nor  do  I  know  how  far  she 
would  care  to  subject  her  well-proven  facts  to  the 
denunciation  of  speculative  philosophy  or  bigoted  pro- 
fessors of  rival  systems. 

"I  presume  she  has  not  forgotten,  and  would  not 
choose  to  repeat,  the  experiences  of  the  magnetizers 
before  the  French  Academy  of  Sciences  some  three- 
quarters  of  a  century  ago ;  but  I  know  Mrs.  French  courts 
investigation,  and  is  earnestly  engaged  in  teaching  her 
methods  to  such  pupils  as  she  deems  capable  of  appre- 
ciating its  scientific  principles.  I  may  venture,  there- 
fore, to  say  that  I  shall  be  happy  and  willing,  so  long 
as  I  remain  in  the  city,  to  communicate  with  earnest 
and  candid  persons  desirous  of  further  information  on 
this  subject,  and  for  that  purpose  I  subjoin  my  address. 

"Trusting  that  even  in  this  brief  notice  of  my 
momentous  subject  I  may  succeed  in  awakening  the 
interest  of  the  truly  scientific,  especially  of  such  as 
desire  to  evolve  more  light  upon  the  science  of  medical 
electricity, 

"I  am,  sir,  very  faithfully  yours, 

"EMMA  HARDINGE  BRITTEN." 


344  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

No.  8. 

A  TERRIBLE   CASE   OF   SPASMS   AND   SUFFERING,    RESULT 
ING   FROM  AN   ACCIDENT  AND    MALPRACTICE. 

Mrs.  B ,  of  Wheeling,  West  Virginia,  married 

seventeen  years,  had  a  fall  and  miscarriage  in  the  first 
year  of  her  marriage,  was  improperly  treated,  and  from 
that  time  on  was  a  fearful  sufferer.  From  five  to  seven 
days  in  every  month  her  pains  were  intolerable ;  she 
would  have  frequent  spasms  or  fits,  sometimes  as  many  as 
six  in  a  day.  At  times  she  was  partially  insane,  and  it 
would  require  several  persons  to  hold  her  in  bed. 
During  several  years  she  was  under  the  care  of  a  number 
of  physicians,  took  quantities  of  morphine  and  other 
sedatives  without  any  real  benefit.  In  the  autumn  of 
1869  Prof.  French  was  in  Wheeling  on  a  professional 

visit.     Some  of  Mrs.  B 's  friends  prevailed  upon 

her  to  consult  Dr.  French.  She  commenced  electric 
treatment  just  after  one  of  her  periodical  attacks,  and, 
almost  impossible  as  it  may  seem,  she  never  had  another. 
Electricity  seemed  indeed  a  panacea  in  her  case.  Her 
pains  soon  ceased ;  she  became  regular ;  her  general 
health  and  strength  came  rapidly ;  from  a  constant 
gloom  and  depression  of  spirits,  she  became  cheerful  and 
hopeful,  and  in  a  very  short  time  was  restored  to  perfect 
health.  Within  a  year  from  the  time  she  commenced 
treating  with  Dr.  French,  she  presented  her  husband 
with  a  fine,  healthy  daughter,  which  they  have  named 
Elizabeth  in  gratitude  to  Dr.  French.  And  now,  three 
years  having  passed,  she  remains  in  the  enjoyment  of 
excellent  health,  and  is  again  a  mother,  this  time  of  a 


CASES   OF  CURE. 


245 


splendid  boy.  Dr.  French  is  at  liberty  to  give  the  full 
name  and  address  of  this  lady  to  any  one  honestly  de- 
siring information. 

No.  9. 

SEVERE   CASE   OF   FISTULA. 

Mrs.  ,  of  Wheeling,  West  Virginia,  had  been 

suffering  for  years  with  hemorrhoids,  and  finally  fistula. 
No  treatment  seemed  to  benefit  her.  She  was  advised 
repeatedly  to  have  a  surgical  operation ;  but  as  she  had 
had  two  relatives  operated  upon  and  both  had  died  from 
the  effects,  she  feared  to  take  the  risk.  In  1870  she  was 
treated  electrically  by  Prof.  French,  became  in  four 
weeks  entirely  cured,  and  has  remained  so  ever  since. 
She  will  cheerfully  give  her  testimony  when  called  upon, 
but  does  not  wish  her  name  used  publicly. 


Nos.  10-15. 

Dr.  T.  J.  Kisner,  now  of  Bucyrus,  Ohio,  wrote  to 
Mr.  D.  T.  Hebert,  of  Wheeling,  inquiring  about  Mrs. 
Prof.  French's  success  as  an  electrician  in  that  city. 
From  the  letter  of  Mr.  Hebert  in  reply  to  Dr.  Kisner 
we  are  permitted  to  make  extracts : 

"  I  believe  Mrs.  French  to  be  thoroughly  conversant 
with  electricity  in  its  remedial  or  medicinal  forms. 
My  judgment  is  based  upon  stubborn  facts,  in  the  form  of 
cures  which  have  come  under  my  own  observation,  and  of 
which  I  have  been  informed  by  parties  entirely  reliable. 
21* 


246  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS, 

"  Mrs. 's  child  was  taken  very  ill  with  scarlatina ; 

two  physicians  were  called,  but  their  medicines  failed 
to  produce  the  desired  effect  (sleep).  The  child  grew 
rapidly  worse,  tossing  about  continually,  and  finally, 
after  many  hours,  when  the  mother  lost  all  hope  and  the 
child  seemed  to  be  dying,  Mrs.  French  was  called 
secretly  (as  the  doctors  previously  refused  to  consult 
with  her).  After,  or  I  believe  whilst  she  was  treating 
the  child,  it  dozed,  and  in  an  hour  or  so  slept,  and  slept 
soundly  until  the  next  morning.  The  doctors  marveled 
greatly  in  calling  late  at  night  and  finding  the  child 
sleeping;  they  continued  to  prescribe,  however,  but  their 
medicines  were  never  given  to  the  child.  From  the 
moment  Mrs.  French  first  treated  it,  the  child  was 
under  her  care  until  it  entirely  recovered. 

"Mrs.  ,  married  nineteen  years,  without  any 

children,  was  treated  electrically  by  Mrs.  French,  and  is 
now  closely  approaching  her  full  time,  so  I  am  informed 
by  a  gentleman  who  is  intimate  with  her  husband. 

"  General  W.  H.  Powell,  of  Kansas  City  (my  uncle), 
badly  bruised  the  muscles  and  ligaments  in  the  sacro- 
lumbar  and  femoral  regions ;  was  treated  for  a  number 
of  months  with  little  if  any  benefit,  and  finally  visited 
Wheeling,  and  was  treated  seven  or  eight  days  by  Mrs. 
French.  When  he  arrived  he  walked  carefully  on  two 
crutches  ;  last  week  he  walked  the  streets  of  Pittsburg 
all  day  with  a  cane,  and  still  continues  to  improve." 

Other  names  and  cases  are  given  in  this  letter,  and 
the  writer  closes  by  saying,  "I  could  give  you  many 
more,  did  time  and  space  admit;"  and  adds,  "I  have 
perfect  confidence  in  Mrs.  French's  ability  to  treat 
electrically  any  disease  that  flesh  is  heir  to." 


CASES  OF  CURE.  247 

BOSTON,  MASS., 
October,   1872. 

41  MY  DEAR  MRS.  FRENCH, — As  you  are  about  to  pub- 
lish a  work  on  the  medical  uses  of  electricity,  I  feel  it 
my  duty  to  add  my  testimony  to  the  wonderful  effects 
of  electricity  in  my  own  case,  and  in  other  cases  that 
came  under  my  own  observation. 

"  In  the  spring  of  1870  I  began  to  have  an  abdominal 
swelling,  accompanied  by  much  pain,  which  soon  re- 
sulted in  such  general  prostration  that  after  a  few  months 
I  was  confined  most  of  the  time  to  my  bed.  Physicians 
whom  I  consulted  pronounced  me  enceinte ;  and  when 
I  met  you  in  the  autumn  I  was  supposed  by  physicians 
to  be  in  my  sixth  or  seventh  month.  You  made  a 
diagnosis,  and  pronounced  it  unhesitatingly  an  ovarian 
tumor,  and  that  in  a  few  weeks  you  could  entirely 
remove  it  by  electricity  alone.  I  commenced  treat- 
ing with  you  at  once.  In  ten  days  I  was  reduced  in 
size  by  abdominal  belt  eight  inches.  At  the  end  of 
seven  weeks  the  tumor  was  entirely  removed,  and  I  was 
restored  to  fine  health,  and  have  remained  so  ever  since. 
During  my  daily  visits  to  your  rooms  I  saw,  and  became 
acquainted  with,  many  ladies  who  were  being  treated  for 
various  diseases,  and  all  being  benefited.  After  I  was 
cured  I  studied  your  system  with  you,  and  remained 
as  your  assistant  some  months.  Since  then  I  have  been 
practicing  electrically  under  your  system,  and  have 
made  a  great  many  cures  of  tumors,  cancers,  paralyses, 
rheumatisms,  female  weaknesses,  etc.,  and  will  cheer- 
fully give  any  information  in  my  power,  and  refer  to 
parties  in  Boston,  who  have  been  under  my  treatment, 


248  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

and  who  are  living  witnesses  to  the  efficacy  of  electricity 
properly  applied. 

"MRS.  M.  J.  BAKER." 

BOSTON,  MASS.,  November  5,  1872. 

This  is  to  certify  that  in  the  spring  of  1871  I  was, 
after  long  and  intense  suffering,  rapidly  losing  the  use 
of  my  left  arm  and  side,  and  must  very  soon  have  be- 
come wholly  unfitted  for  business.  I  had  tried  various 
remedies  without  relief,  and  had  almost  given  up  all 
hope,  when  my  wife  became  a  patient  of  Mrs.  Prof.  E. 
J.  French.  Seeing  the  benefit  my  wife  was  receiving, 
and  hearing  of  other  wonderful  cures  made  by  Mrs. 
French,  I  decided  to  go  see  her  myself.  The  result  of 
this  interview  was  to  place  myself  under  her  treatment. 
In  less  than  three  weeks  my  arm  and  side  were  very 
much  improved,  so  much  so  that  I  purchased  a  battery 
through  Mrs.  French,  and  by  her  instructions  continued 
to  treat  myself,  occasionally  visiting  her,  and  in  six 
months  I  was  wholly  cured,  so  that  I  now  can  say  / 
am  well;  and  I  can  recommend  her  mode  of  treatment, 
electricity,  as  being,  together  with  her  skill,  the  best 
thing  in  practice  for  any  and  all  afflicted  in  like 
manner.  C.  SEABURY, 

49  Hanover  Street,  Boston. 


CASES  OF  CUKE. 


249 


I  suffered  for  four  years  from  retroversion  of  the 
uterus,  and,  a  good  portion  of  the  time,  painful  ulcera- 
tion,  restricted  menstruation,  occasioning  much  pain, 
inflammation  of  the  bladder,  etc.  I  placed  myself 
under  Mrs.  Prof.  French's  electrical  medical  treatment 
in  September,  1870.  In  three  treatments  I  was  entirely 
relieved  of  retroversion,  and  in  ten  treatments  all 
other  difficulties  were  removed,  and  I  was  restored  to 
more  perfect  health  than  I  had  enjoyed  for  many  years 
previously.  These  treatments  caused  no  pain  or  ex- 
posure. 

MRS.  J.  H.  C., 

Toledo,  Ohio. 


No.  16. 

CASE   OF   FIBROUS  TUMOR  IN   CONNECTION   WITH   CHILD- 
BEARING. 

Mrs.  H ,  a  lady  afflicted  with  a  fibroid  ovarian 

tumor,  became  the  mother  of  a  child,  at  whose  birth 
she  suffered  so  intensely  that  one  of  the  best  surgeons 
in  Philadelphia  and  her  family  physician  declared  she 
could  never  again  become  a  mother  without  serious 
danger  to  life.  Finding  herself  enceinte,  however,  three 
years  later,  and  the  tumor  becoming  more  and  more 

painful,  at  my  recommendation  Mrs.  H determined 

to  try  electrical  treatment  for  its  removal. 

Previous  to  commencing  this  course  of  treatment 
her  case  was  diagnosed  by  Prof.  Elizabeth  J.  French, 
who  found  a  fibroid  and  highly  indurated  tumor  origi- 
nating on  the  ovary,  and  extending  along  the  broad 
L* 


250  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

ligament  of  the  uterus.  The  uterus  also  was  much 
enlarged, — five  times  its  normal  size, — and  all  the  ad- 
jacent parts  were  sympathetically  affected. 

Mrs.   H commenced  electrical  treatments  and 

electric  vapor-baths  under  my  care  in  the  third  month 
of  her  pregnancy. 

She  continued  to  improve  rapidly  from  this  time, 
and  after  completing  her  full  term  of  nine  months,  in 
January  of  this  year,  1873,  she  gave  birth  to  a  fine, 
healthy  child,  without  any  extraordinary  pain  or  incon- 
venience. At  that  time  the  tumor  was  not  entirely 
removed,  but  it  had  greatly  diminished  in  size,  occa- 
sioned her  none  of  the  former  distressing  symptoms; 
and  at  the  present  date  (some  four  months  since  the 
birth  of  her  child)  the  patient  continues  well  and 
strong. 

Any  further  information  that  may  be  desired  on  this 
subject  I  shall  be  happy  to  communicate. 

ELIZA  J.  BURNSIDE,  M.D., 

Philadelphia,  Pa. 


REMOVAL  OF  A  UTERINE  POLYPUS  IN  TWO  TREAT- 
MENTS BY  ELECTRICITY. 

The  following  remarkable  cure  and  rapid  removal 
of  a  uterine  polypus  occurred  in  the  practice  of  Dr. 
E.  J.  Burnside,  pupil  of  Prof.  French  in  Electricity: 

April  5,  1873,  Mrs.  D ,  of  Hestonville,  called 

on  Dr.  Burnside,  to  consult  her  about  her  condition, 
which,  at  that  time,  was  one  of  extreme  suffering.  In 


CASES  OF  CURE.  251 

the  month  of  January  previous,  Mrs.  D had  expe- 
rienced a  miscarriage,  after  three  months'  pregnancy. 
The  foetus — now  in  possession  of  Dr.  Burnside — shows 
striking  evidence  of  the  presence  and  pressure  of  the 
polypus,  one  side  of  the  head  being  considerably 
flattened,  and  the  upper  extremity  on  the  same  side 
being  pressed  in  and  in  part  consumed.  The  polypus 
was  attached  to  the  fundus,  and  hung  down  to  the  os. 
It  measured  two  inches  in  diameter,  and  the  hemor- 
rhages that  poured  from  it  were  profuse  and  terribly 
debilitating  to  the  patient. 

Dr.  Burnside  treated  this  case  twice,  and  on  the 
second  occasion  the  polypus  came  away  without  the 
slightest  inconvenience  or  force.  The  discharges 
from  that  time  ceased;  the  patient's  health  rapidly 
improved ;  she  resumed  her  usual  occupations  and 
exercises,  and  appeared  to  her  family  physician  and 
the  friends  who  had  been  accustomed  to  witness  her 
debilitated  and  suffering  condition,  like  one  suddenly 
restored  from  the  grave. 

Any  further  information  that  may  be  desired  on  this 
subject  will  be  cheerfully  given  by 

DR.  E.  J.  BURNSIDE, 

Philadelphia,  Pa. 

"76  HUDSON  AVE.,  ALBANY,  N.  Y., 

"May  17,  1877. 

"  MY  DEAR  DR.  FRENCH  :  One  year  ago  to-day  I  re- 
ceived my  first  treatment  in  electricity  at  your  hands. 
Then,  almost  a  hopeless  invalid,  I  could  not  lie  nor 
turn  in  bed,  nor  could  I  sleep  after  four  o'clock  in 
the  morning.  Skillful  physicians  failed  to  diagnose 


252  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

my  case  correctly.  The  'cranial  diagnosis'  in  your 
hands  showed  the  locality,  nature  and  extent  of  lesion 
under  which  I  was  suffering,  and  pointed  unerringly 
to  the  treatment  which  was  ultimately  to  be  the  means 
of  restoring  me  to  perfect  health.  At  this  writing  I 
consider  my  restoration  complete  and,  as  far  as  I  can 
now  see,  permanent. 

"  My  confidence  in  the  therapeutic  power  of  elec- 
tricity is  growing  more  and  more  as  I  come  to  learn 
its  wonderful  effect  upon  organic  derangements  and 
pathological  conditions.  Of  all  the  systems  of  elec- 
tric therapeutics  now  taught,  I  like  yours  the  best.  It 
is  more  comprehensive.  It  controls  a  larger  number 
of  cases.  It  is  less  dangerous  in  its  application.  It  is 
the  only  system  that  pretends  to  correct  or  restore  dis- 
placements— a  very  great  improvement  upon  all  other 
teachings.  While  treating  myself  during  the  past  year 
I  have  used  it  in  my  general  practice.  I  have  been 
more  than  successful  in  most  cases.  I  have  corrected 
a  left  version  of  the  uterus  of  three  years'  standing, 
which  had  produced  paralysis,  both  sensory  and  mo- 
tor, of  the  corresponding  side,  and  had  been  pro- 
nounced incurable  by  many  distinguished  physicians. 
I  have  arrested  the  growth  of  uterine  and  ovarian  tu- 
mors and  absorbed  others  entirely.  I  have  several 
cases  of  paralysis  now  under  treatment,  and  all  are 
doing  well.  Time  and  space  will  not  permit  me 
to  rwnne  all  the  good  results  I  know  of  your  system 
of  electro-therapeutics.  You  are  engaged  in  a  great 
and  noble  work,  and  I  trust  your  life  may  be  long 
spared  to  carry  on  this  good  work,  and  make  oth- 
ers see  and  understand  the  great  value  of  your  sys- 


CASES   OF  CUKE.  *53 

tern  in  carrying  help  to  those  who  are  suffering  with- 
out hope. 

"Yours,  very  truly, 

"P.  L.  F.  REYNOLDS,  M.  D." 

"GLENDALE,  O  ,  May  I,  1877. 

"  DR.  ELIZABETH  J.  FRENCH  :  I  deem  it  a  duty  and, 
withal,  a  pleasure,  to  testify  to  the  correct  delineation 
of  the  cause  of  my  physical  decline  in  health  and  vigor 
through  your  method  of  electro-cranial  diagnosis,  and 
subsequent  successful  treatment  through  electropathy 
as  prescribed  by  you.  My  case  had  baffled  the  skill 
of  several  physicians  of  high  repute,  and  in  trying 
the  best  and  varied  climates  in  the  United  States, 
extending  through  a  period  of  three  and  a  half 
years,  I  had  found  no  relief.  Now,  after  a  lapse 
of  seven  months  under  steady  treatment  as  per  your 
directions,  I  find  myself  so  much  strengthened  and 
invigorated  as  to  certainly  assure  me,  in  proper  course 
of  time,  full  health  and  strength  will  again  be  restored, 
notwithstanding  the  primary  cause  which  produced  my 
weakness  dates  back  some  fifteen  years,  and  a  slow  but 
steady  giving  way  of  the  vital  powers  had  been  going 
on  from  that  period  up  to  the  time  you  took  my  case 
in  hand. 

"With  much  gratitude  and  esteem,  I  am 

"Yours,  most  truly  and  sincerely, 

"GEO.  W.  TROWBRIDGE." 

22 


254  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

CURVATURE   OF   THE    SPINE   AND   PARALYSIS. 

"  GANG,  Butler  co.,  O. 

"May  10,  1877. 

"  This  is  to  certify  that  my  son  Clifford,  a  boy  a  lit- 
tle over  three  years  old,  was  paralyzed  in  one  leg  and 
had  curvature  of  the  spine  from  an  attack  of  spinal 
meningitis  when  he  was  two  years  and  six  months  old, 
which  rendered  him  unable  to  either  stand  on  the  limb 
or  raise  the  foot  from  the  floor.  The  limb  had  become 
smaller  than  the  other,  and  was  constantly  cold,  with 
very  poor  circulation.  The  other  limb  was  also  much 
colder  and  weaker  than  natural.  In  this  condition  I 
put  him  under  the  electrical  treatment  of  Dr.  Eliza- 
beth J.  French,  and  within  one  month  the  child  was 
able  to  raise  the  foot,  and  move  it  much  more  than  at 
any  time  since  his  attack  of  sickness.  From  that  time 
on  until  the  present  there  has  been  a  gradual  improve- 
ment, so  that  now  he  can  walk  by  supporting  his  hands 
on  a  table  or  something  to  keep  the  body  steady.  This 
gives  me  great  encouragement  that  in  a  reasonable 
length  of  time  he  will  be  enabled  to  use  his  limbs 
without  any  assistance  and  have  good  use  of  his  body, 
as  the  curvature  of  the  spine  has  been  entirely  removed 
since  he  has  been  under  treatment,  which  is  now  three 

months. 

"  H.  SULLIVAN." 


ADDITIONAL    CASES. 


SEVERE    CASE    OF   SPINAL   AND    HIP   DISEASE. 

In  January,  1873,  George  Saylor,  a  boy  then  about 
eleven  years  of  age,  was  brought  to  Mrs.  French  for 
treatment.  He  was  suffering  from  a  severe  curvature  of 
the  spine,  together  with  an  enormous  enlargement  of 
the  sternum,  and  also  from  hip  disease.  The  child 
presented  a  most  pitiful  appearance,  the  vertebral 
column  in  the  dorsal  region  as  well  as  the  breast  being 
frightfully  curved  outward.  The  leg  on  the  affected 
side  was  constantly  cold  and  numb,  was  shrunken,  and 
was  two  and  a  half  inches  shorter  than  the  other  leg, 
and  was  moved  with  difficulty  and  pain.  For  several 
years  this  suffering  child  had  only  been  able  to  ascend 
the  stairs  by  placing  his  hands  upon  his  knees  and 
partly  lifting  this  foot,  and  the  act  of  walking  was 
performed  with  exceeding  pain  and  effort.  The  boy's 
deformity  had  been  caused  by  a  fall,  and  from  the  age 
of  two  years  he  had  been  subjected  to  many  kinds  of 
medical  treatment,  without  receiving  any  benefit.  He 
was  treated  twice  a  week  in  Mrs.  French's  electro- 
clinic  rooms  up  to  about  the  first  of  April,  and  during 
April  and  May  two  and  three  times  a  week  at  Mrs. 

255 


25 6  ELECTRICAL  THERAPEUTICS. 

French's  house,  where  the  injured  leg  had  become  vveli 
and  strong,  the  enlargement  of  the  spine  and  sternum 
riad  nearly  disappeared,  could  walk  and  run  up  and 
down  stairs  with  perfect  ease,  could  eat  well,  sleep 
well,  and  was  rapidly  growing  straight  and  tall.  His 
mother,  Mrs.  R.  Saylor,  corner  Broad  and  Arch 
streets,  Philadelphia,  reports  him  now — April,  1875 — 
as  perfectly  well,  rugged  and  strong,  and  will  cheer- 
fully give  any  information  in  her  power  relative  to  her 
son's  case,  and  to  several  other  cases  of  which  she  has 
had  personal  knowledge. 


A    SEVERE,    ALMOST    HOPELESS    CASE    OF   DYSPEPSIA, 
SLEEPLESSNESS  AND  GENERAL  NERVOUS    DEBILITY. 

Prof.  M of  Ann  Arbor  College,  Michigan,  was 

first  treated  by  Mrs.  French  in  July  of  last  year.  For 
nearly  a  month  little  if  any  benefit  was  experienced, 
and  he  was  almost  despairing  and  on  the  point  of  giv- 
ing up  treatment.  Induced  to  try  a  little  longer,  he 
began  to  experience  relief;  hope  revived,  he  purchased 
a  battery,  got  full  instructions  for  treatment,  returned  to 
Ann  Arbor  and  followed  up  his  treatment  regularly. 
From  a  letter  addressed  to  Mrs.  French,  and  dated 
Ann  Arbor,  March  17,  1875,  ^e  following  extract  is 
taken  :  "  My  health  has  improved  so  much  and  so  con- 
stantly since  the  beginning  of  the  year  that  I  have  felt 
full  of  gratitude  to  God,  to  you  and  to  the  one  who 
directed  me  to  you.  I  have  grown  continually  more 
strong  and  more  heavy.  I  have  increased  in  weight 
since  September  of  last  year  from  one  hundred  and 


CASES  OF  CURE.  257 

twenty-four  to  one  hundred  and  forty -seven  and  a  half 
pounds.  Have  slept  soundly  in  general,  and  been  able 
to  do  heavy  work  with  less  and  less  of  fatigue.  I  dare 
not  think  as  yet  of  giving  up  the  use  of  electricity,  and 
I  continue  to  use  it  twice  a  day  according  to  your  di- 
rections. 


DR.  FOSTER    OF   KALAMAZOO,   MICHIGAN,  WRITES   TO 
MRS.  DR.   KENT  OF   CHICAGO    IN   NOVEMBER,   1874. 

"  DEAR  MADAM  :  In  reply  to  your  request  of  my 
opinion  touching  Electrical  Therapeutics  as  taught  and 
practiced  by  Prof.  Elizabeth  J.  French  and  her  daugh- 
ter by  means  of  Electro-Cranial  Diagnosis,  I  have  sim- 
ply to  say  that  it  is  one  of  the  grandest  discoveries 
of  the  age,  and  is  bound  to  revolutionize  medical 
practice  in  its  most  essential  departments.  Its  cures 
are  marvelous.  In  cases  of  tumors  it  has  displaced  the 
knife  and  healed  with  a  kindly  healing.  But  it  is  un- 
necessary to  detail.  You  may  rest  assured  that  this 
branch  of  medical  science  is  no  uncertain  thing.  Its 
pretensions  are  true,  and  can  be  well  established  by 
resulting  facts.  I  know  whereof  I  speak,  for  I  am  in 
possession  of  the  methods  of  diagnosing  and  treating. 
I  think,  for  the  cause  of  humanity,  every  medical  man 
and  woman  should  embrace  the  opportunity  of  adding 
to  their  knowledge  the  science  and  practice  of  Electric 
Therapeutics,  not  for  the  purpose  of  laying  aside  en- 
tirely the  administration  of  medicine,  but  to  use  it 
when  found  to  be  a  helpmeet  to  electrical  action.  I 
therefore  commend  Electrical  Therapeutics  most  ear- 
22* 


258  ELECTRICAL  THERAPEUTICS. 

nestly  to  you.     '  Learn  us   and  try  us '  can  be  their 
fearless  motto. 

"C.  A.  FOSTER,  M.D.,  LL.D." 

The  writer  of  the  above  has  had,  and  is  now  having, 
some  marvelous  results. 

The  lady  here  referred  to  has  studied  the  system,  and 
is  now  practicing  very  successfully  at  Chicago,  Illinois. 

Are  cures  made  by  this  system  of  electric  treat- 
ments permanent? 

Mr.  H.  W.  Phillips  of  Wheeling,  West  Virginia, 
whose  testimony  in  reference  to  his  blind  daughter  who 
was  treated  in  1869  will  be  found  on  page  225  of  this 
book,  writes  in  reply  to  inquiries  made  by  Mrs.  M.  N. 
Halsey  of  Adrian,  Michigan,  under  date  October  2, 
1874  :  "  Our  daughter's  eyes  are  now  sound  and  well, 
and  have  been  for  some  time.  We  give  Dr.  Elizabeth 
J.  French  all  the  credit  of  restoring  her  sight  and 
making  a  radical  cure.  Mrs.  French  cured  a  number 
of  persons  in  this  city  of  various  diseases,  all  of  whom, 
so  far  as  I  know,  are  permanently  well.  I  think  you  can 
safely  trust  your  daughter  in  her  hands." 

Col.  W.  A.  Fox  of  Buffalo  wrote  a  few  weeks  since 
to  a  lady  in  Rochester,  New  York  :  "Many  years  ago 
I  was  carried  to  Dr.  Elizabeth  J.  French's  house  in  the 
city  of  New  York  while  suffering  from  a  very  severe 
attack  of  inflammatory  rheumatism.  My  limbs  were 
all  drawn  up ;  the  act  of  walking  was  simply  impossi- 
ble, and  the  slightest  movements  were  attended  with 


CASES   OF  CUKE.  259 

excruciating  pain.  I  was  treated  by  her,  and  under 
her  directions,  electrically  both  in  connection  with  and 
independent  of  the  electro  vapor-bath,  and  in  fifteen 
days  I  was  radically  cured,  and  have  enjoyed  excellent 
health  ever  since.  By  all  means  place  yourself  under 
her  care." 

A  gentleman  of  prominent  position  in  Philadelphia 
writes  under  a  recent  date  to  a  lady:  "I  cheerfully  re- 
spond to  your  note ;  you  can  with  confidence  submit 
your  daughter  to  Mrs.  French.  Our  daughter  from 
childhood  was  afflicted  with  a  weak  back,  indigestion, 
neuralgia  in  the  back  of  the  head,  etc.  We  had  tried 
a  number  of  remedies,  sea-voyages,  etc.,  without  bene- 
fit. We  also  employed  electro-doctors  without  good 
results.  We  were  induced  to  try  Mrs.  French  through 

the     recommendation   of   and    of   Prof   . 

Our  daughter  enjoys  better  health  now  than  she  has 
during  her  whole  life." 


"  ROCHESTER,  N.  Y.,  May  28,  1884. 
"  MRS.  E.  J.  FRENCH  : 

"  DEAR  MADAM  :  Without  the  excess  of  praise  and 
extravagance  of  expression  with  which  grateful  patients 
are  liable  to  overwhelm  their  favorite  physician,  you, 
and  others,  are  entitled  to  such  a  statement  of  facts  as 
are  just  to  you,  and  as  may  be  of  vital  interest  to  those 
who,  like  myself,  may  need  your  valuable  services.  It 
would  be  as  impossible  as  it  is  unnecessary  for  me  to 
portray  what  I  suffered  in  the  long  years  before  I  met 
you,  and  equally  impossible,  though  immeasurably  more 


260  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

agreeable,  what  I  have  enjoyed  in  the  ten  years  since 
receiving  the  incalculable  benefits  of  your  treatment. 
Suffice  it  to  say,  for  the  information  of  others,  that 
some  fifteen  years  ago  I  was  violently  thrown  from  a 
buggy  upon  a  sidewalk,  receiving  such  injuries  of  the 
spine  as  to  render  me  nearly  helpless  for  several  years, 
during  which  time  all  that  human  love  and  medical 
skill  could  do  to  relieve  my  sufferings  and  restore  my 
health  was  faithfully  done.  Notwithstanding  all  this, 
my  condition  did  not  improve  and  my  constant  suffer- 
ing and  frequent  spasms,  which  increased  as  the  years 
rolled  on,  led  my  friends  and  my  physician  alike  to 
despair  of  restoring  my  health,  or  of  preserving  the 
life  which,  at  times,  I  had  almost  ceased  to  value. 
Thus,  by  the  advice  of  friends  and  the  consent  of  my 
family,  I  was  placed  in  your  hands  as  the  '  forlorn 
hope,'  upon  which  hung  the  issues  of  life  or  death. 
Result :  A  marked  improvement  from  the  first,  which 
steadily  continued  until  I  was  able,  a  year  later,  to 
begin  the  active  practice  of  your  system  of  treatment 
upon  others,  which  I  continued  for  a  term  of  seven 
years  with  flattering  success,  both  as  regards  the  num- 
ber of  my  patients  and  the  results  of  my  efforts. 

"  Upon  giving  up  my  public  rooms  for  the  more  pri- 
vate duties  of  my  home,  and  exchanging  professional 
for  maternal  offices,  I  found  it  more  difficult  to  sever  my 
connection  with  my  numerous  patrons  than  it  had  ever 
been  to  secure  their  patronage.  In  a  word,  the  wreck 
of  girlhood  who  came  to  you  almost  helpless  and  de- 
spairing ten  years  ago  has  been  actively  engaged  in 
professional  and  other  duties  for  more  than  nine  years, 
and  is  to-day  the  happy  wife  of  a  devoted  husband,  and 


CASES  OF  CURE.  26l 

the  proud  mother  of  a  buxom  little  girl  of  two  years. 
I  need  not  say  more,  and  I  could  not  well  have  said 
less.  From  this  simple  statement  of  facts  those  inter- 
ested will  draw  their  own  conclusions.  Any  expression 
of  what  my  emotions  are  as  I  write  this  would  be  more 
fitting  to  the  pages  of  a  more  private  and  confidential 
correspondence,  and  for  such  pages  I  reserve  them. 
"Very  truly  yours, 

"MARY  A.  THAYER  SANFORD." 

"  WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  May  16,  1884. 
"MRS.  ELIZABETH  J.  FRENCH:  Seeing  by  the  papers 
that  you  are  delivering  a  course  of  lectures  on  Electric- 
ity in  Baltimore,  I  feel  it  my  duty  to  add  my  testi- 
mony to  the  beneficial  effects  of  Electricity  under 
your  manipulations.  Twelve  years  ago,  while  a  resi- 
dent of  Wheeling,  W.  Va.,  my  daughter,  then  eight 
years  of  age,  had  a  severe  attack  of  malignant  scarlet 
fever,  and  when  given  up  by  two  of  the  best  physicians 
in  Wheeling,  I,  in  my  despair,  called  on  you,  then 
to  me  almost  a  stranger,  having  only  heard  you  lecture. 
From  my  descriptions  of  the  case  you  thought  it  in 
all  probability  hopeless,  but  at  my  earnest  pleading 
you  consented  to  go  with  me  as  a  mother,  not  as  a 
physician.  You  found  the  child  raving,  pulse  130, 
throat  badly  swollen,  salivated,  and  suffering,  in  ad- 
dition, from  St.  Vitus's  dance.  You  took  charge 
of  her  at  once,  saying  although  this  child  is  nearly 
gone,  you  thought  you  could  save  her.  In  about  thirty 
minutes  you  had  her  pulse  reduced  to  nearly  a  normal 
condition,  and  her  frightful  ravings  ceased.  The  next 
day  the  gathering  in  the  throat  broke,  and  in  three  or 


262  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

four  days  she  was  able  to  sit  up  in  bed,  and  in  three 
weeks  she  was  out  of  the  house,  and  in  a  short  time 
quite  well.  She  is  now  twenty  years  of  age  and  in 
perfect  health.  I  have  personal  knowledge  of  a  num- 
ber of  cures  you  made  at  Wheeling  that  were  consid- 
ered wonderful,  and  will  most  cheerfully  respond  to 
any  inquiries. 

"  Yours  gratefully, 

"  MRS.  J.  F.  MCDERMOT, 
"24FSt.,  N.W.,  Washington,  D.  C." 

"ROCHESTER,  N.  Y.,  May  20,  1884. 
"MRS.  E.  J.  FRENCH. 

"  DEAR  FRIEND  :  I  am  glad  of  this  opportunity  to 
express  thus  publicly  my  sentiments  in  regard  to  your 
system  of  Electricity.  Having  practised  it  for  a  num- 
ber of  years  with  marvellous  results,  and  feeling  myself 
to  be  a  new  creation  from  the  treatments,  I  unhesi- 
tatingly place  it  at  the  head  of  remedial  agencies  for 
all  the  ills  of  suffering  humanity.  Had  it  not  been  for 
your  timely  appearance  with  the  cranial  diagnosis  and 
this  great  curative  power,  I  am  confident  I  should  not 
now  have  the  pleasure  of  subscribing  myself 
"  Gratefully  yours, 

"ANGELINA  M.  SARGENT." 
"MRS.  E.  J.  FRENCH. 

"DEAR  MADAM:  I  most  heartily  indorse  the  state- 
ments by  Mrs.  Sargent  in  regard  to  your  method  of 
electrical  treatments,  and  the  magical  relief  they  afford. 
Speaking  from  personal  experience,  I  would  say  that  I 
have  always  found  your  system  to  be  sure  and  effective 
in  every  emergency,  and  consider  it  as  superior  to 


CASES   OF  LURE.  263 

drugs  in  the  cure  of  disease  as  the  palace-car  is  to  the 
old  stage-coach.  In  ray  estimation  of  the  grand  march 
of  science  to-day,  your  discovery  of  the  cranial  diag- 
nosis and  method  of  applying  electricity  stand  in  the 
front  rank. 

"Respectfully  yours, 

"JAMES  SARGENT." 

I  have  the  permission  of  the  writer,  Mrs.  Greenleaf, 
wife  of  Hon.  H.  S.  Greenleaf,  M.C.,  to  use  the  fol- 
lowing letter,  addressed  a  few  days  since  to  a  friend  in 
answer  to  inquiries : 

"  MY  DEAR  MRS.  C. :  You  have  asked  me  two  ques- 
tions, to  which  I  am  most  happy  to  reply.  First, 
What  can  I  tell  you  of  Dr.  Elizabeth  J.  French  and 
her  system  of  Electrical  Therapeutics  ?  And,  sec- 
ondly, If  I  think  Dr.  French  could  relieve  your  daugh- 
ter of  the  severe  headaches  to  which  she  has  so  long 
been  a  martyr?  To  the  last  question  I  unhesitatingly 
reply,  Yes,  without  a  doubt.  With  regard  to  what  I 
know  of  Dr.  French's  system  of  practice,  my  difficulty 
is  to  avoid  saying  too  much.  To  her  skill  I  feel  that  I 
am  indebted  for  my  husband's  life  and  health,  for  my 
own  life,  and  for  the  lives  of  many  near  and  dear  to 
me.  In  her  cranial  diagnosis  I  have  the  most  perfect 
confidence.  I  learned  to  use  it  myself  nine  years  ago, 
and  have  found  it  unfailing,  and  her  method  of  prac- 
tice is  at  once  simple  and  scientific,  and  correspond- 
ingly successful.  I  have  found  by  experience  that  it 
was  not  only  most  efficacious  in  the  cure  of  chronic 
diseases,  but  for  those  terrible  scourges,  croup,  diph- 
theria, and  scarlet  fever,  I  believe  it  to  be  unequalled. 


264  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

With  the  hope  that  you  may  seek  and  find  relief  at 
the  source  I  have  found  so  satisfactorily, 
"  I  remain  yours,  sincerely, 

"  JEANIE  F.  GKEENLEAF, 
"JJ4  C  St.,  N.W.,  Washington. 
"May  26,  1884." 

I  have  permission  to  refer  to  Hon.  H.  S.  Greenleaf, 
M.C.,  334  C  St.,  Washington,  D.  C.,  and  to  many 
others,  if  deemed  necessary. 

"NANTUCKET,  MASS.,  June  5,  1884. 
"MRS.  ELIZABETH  J.  FRENCH. 

"  DEAR  MADAM  :  From  a  sense  of  gratitude,  as  well 
as  from  a  hope  that  others  may  find  relief  in  the  same 
way,  we  write  to  say  that  by  and  through  your  system 
we  have  been  restored  to  health  after  many  years  of 
intense  suffering.  After  ten  years'  experience  with 
the  best  physicians  within  our  reach  to  no  purpose, 
we  had  about  given  up  all  hope,  when  you  visited  our 
city  professionally,  and  was  induced  to  give  a  course 
of  lectures.  After  hearing  you,  we  resolved  to  place 
ourselves  under  your  treatment ;  joined  a  class  for 
instruction  in  Electric  Therapeutics;  studied  your 
system  of  cranial  diagnosis  ;  purchased  a  battery ;  and 
by  following  up  your  instructions  we  have  not  only 
been  restored  to  health  ourselves,  but  have  been,  and 
still  are,  doing  much  good  to  other  sufferers,  and  can 
give  many  cases  relieved  by  us  with  your  system,  and 
shall  take  pleasure  in  replying  to  any  and  all  inquiries. 
"  Very  truly  yours, 

"JAMES  GINN  AND  WIFE." 


CASES  OF  CURE.  265 

*'  I  could  refer  you  to  many  cases,  but  name  here 
only  the  following : 

"Six  months  ago  I  treated  J.  A.  Danforth,  of 
Brunswick,  Me.,  for  hemorrhoids.  I  saw  him  a  few 
days  since,  and  he  considers  himself  perfectly  cured. 

"  In  January  last,  Captain  George  Cash,  of  Nan- 
tucket,  applied  to  me  for  treatment  for  his  paralyzed 
wife,  whom,  he  said,  had  been  given  up  by  physicians 
as  incurable.  Cranial  diagnosis  showed  her  stomach, 
kidneys,  and  spleen  very  much  affected.  She  was 
nearly  blind ;  left  eyelid  completely  paralyzed  and 
devoid  of  feeling,  etc.  After  about  ten  treatments 
her  eyesight  was  restored,  and  there  was  a  very  percep- 
tible general  improvement.  After  about  thirty  treat- 
ments she  left  town  greatly  improved,  and  I  hear  is 
still  getting  along  well. 

"Mrs.  Catric  Grain  was  suffering  from  rheumatism, 
her  feet  and  limbs  badly  swollen  and  inflamed,  etc., 
and,  as  an  examination  showed  us,  she  suffered  from 
prolapsed  uteri  and  other  troubles;  we  replaced  the 
organ,  reduced  the  inflammation  in  the  limbs,  and 
after  the  fifth  treatment  she  pronounced  herself  well, 
and  has  remained  so  ever  since. 

"  JAMES  GINN." 

"  ROCHESTER,  June  4,  1884. 

"Mr  DEAR  MRS.  FRENCH:  If  I  once  begin  to  tell 
you  how  much  I  think  of  your  system  of  diagnosis 
and  Electric  Therapeutics,  I  shall  not  know  where  to 
stop.  For  myself,  when  I  began  taking  treatment,  I 
was  not  able  to  work  but  a  little  while  each  day  at  the 
lightest  work.  Now  I  can  do  anything.  I  often  take 
M  23 


266  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

long  walks  and  feel  none  the  worse  the  next  day.  My 
children  have  had  all  the  diseases  incident  to  children 
since  I  got  the  battery,  and  they  seem  to  have  every- 
thing lighter.  I  have  relied  wholly  on  the  battery, 
and  have  not  given  them  one  drop  of  any  medicine. 
I  often  tell  my  husband  I  would  not  take  five  thousand 
dollars  for  my  battery  if  I  could  not  replace  it. 
"  Sincerely  yours, 

"M.  A.  CLINTON." 

"  BATH,  ME.,  June  16,  1884. 

"In  October  and  November,  1882,  I  was  suffering 
from  the  effects  of  a  fall  I  had  in  November,  1881,  at 
which  time  I  broke  several  of  my  ribs  and  otherwise 
severely  injuring  myself,  bringing  on  disease  of  the 
kidneys  and  other  difficulties.  All  of  which  medical 
skill  failed  to  reach  me  until  I  met  Mrs.  E.  J.  French 
in  Boston,  who,  by  the  use  of  the  electric  battery, 
completely  restored  me  to  sound  health. 

"I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  I  believe  electricity 
to  be  one  of  the  most  efficient  therapeutic  agents  that 
can  be  employed. 

"Z.  H.  BLAIR." 

Hundred  of  cases  extending  over  a  period  of  many 
years  might  be  referred  to,  were  it  deemed  necessary, 
in  evidence  of  the  positive  and  continued  relief  result- 
ing from  this  mode  of  electric  treatments. 


A   PLEASANT  AFFAIR.  267 

ELEGANT    TESTIMONIAL    TO    MRS.    FRENCH    BY    HER 
JACKSONVILLE    FRIENDS. 

"  On  Monday  night  a  pleasant  little  incident  occurred 
in  the  parlors  of  Mrs.  Elizabeth  J.  French.  A  large 
party  of  friends,  admirers  and  patients,  stormed  the 
lady  in  a  body,  bearing  with  them  beautiful  testimo- 
nials of  their  esteem  and  affection.  When  all  had 
entered,  and  the  rooms  were  filled  to  overflowing  with 
numbers  of  our  best  representative  people,  Mr.  J.  T. 
Talbott  stepped  forward  and  presented  Mrs.  French 
with  an  elegantly-bound  copy  of  Poe's  'Raven'  and  the 
'Ancient  Mariner,'  illustrated  by  Gustave  Dore.  As  he 
deposited  them  before  her,  he  presented  the  following 
memorial : 

"  'We,  the  undersigned  friends  of  Mrs.  French,  who 
appreciate  her  worth  as  physician,  friend,  and  teacher, 
desire  to  express  our  regard  and  friendship  in  present- 
ing this  tribute  of  esteem  to  one  who  has  been  a  lover 
of  humanity,  an  example  for  her  sex,  and  a  follower 
of  the  Divine  Master  for  many  years.  Long  may  she 
live  to  bless  and  enlighten  is  our  united  wish. 

"  'Rev.  and  Mrs.  C.  C.  McLean,  Rev.  and  Mrs.  S.  D. 
Paine,  Rev.  and  Mrs.  C.  H.  Mead,  Rev.  and  Mrs.  W. 
H.  Simpson,  Aurelia  E.  Gilbert,  M.D.,  Dr.  and  Mrs. 
N.  Webster,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  J.  T.  Talbott,  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
J.  H.  Burst,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  J.  C.  Greeley,  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Cole,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sedgwick,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Powers, 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rich,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Trumpeller,  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  George  W.  Garrett,  Mrs.  Col.  Moore,  Willie 
Ingraham,  Mr.  Will  Chute,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  R.  Chute,  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  W.  P. .Gifford,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  J.  F.  Ingram, 


268  ELECTRICAL    THERAPEUTICS. 

Mrs.  L.  A.  Ford,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  C.  L.  Robinson,  Mrs. 
Hunter,  Mrs.  Reynolds,  Miss  L.  Tucker,  Miss  H.  Lou 
Ball,  Miss  K.  H.  Ball,  Misses  Booth,  Mamie  Sedgwick, 
Mrs.  L.  R.  Rockwell. 

"  As  Mr.  Talbott  ceased  speaking  one  of  the  ladies 
advanced  with  an  exceedingly  beautiful  and  elaborate 
basket  of  flowers,  which  was  presented  with  the  follow- 
ing original  poem,  the  offering  of  another  of  the  ladies  : 

TO  MRS.  FRENCH, 

WITH   THE   BEST  WISHES   OF    THE   AUTHOR. 

Awake,  my  harp,  sound  forth  a  lay 

Of  friendship's  tender  greeting, 
While  happy  hours  full  fraught  with  joy 

On  golden  wings  are  flitting. 

Breathe  forth  thy  sweetest  strain  for  her 

Whose  loving  heart  hath  won  us, 
Whose  tender  hands  would  guide  our  steps 

To  heights  of  joy  beyond  us. 

On  beauty's  cheek  would  paint  the  rose, 

That  dimples  into  blushes, 
While  lilies  crown  the  snowy  brow 

The  zephyr  lightly  brushes. 

Through  all  the  woman  form  divine 
.  Would  send  the  tide  of  healing, 
Until  she  stood  a  goddess  fair 
Creation's  crown  revealing. 

Would  lead  that  form  with  soul  aglow 

To  him,  the  soul's  inspirer, 
That  He  might  breathe  the  breath  divine, 

And  fan  its  fame  afire, 

Would  crown  her  sisterhood  with  love 

In  all  sweet  paths  alluring, 
That  upward  lead  to  grander  heights, 

To  heavenly  home  enduring. 


A   PLEASANT  AFFAIR.  269 

Awake,  my  harp,  with  magic  strain, 

Health,  joy  and  hope  entwining, 
And  at  her  feet  harmonious  lay 

This  song — her  worth  enshrining. 

"Mrs.  French,  very  much  affected,  responded  with 
deep  feeling,  and  with  her  usual  ready  eloquence. 
Cordial  congratulations  and  a  general  social  inter- 
change of  courtesies  followed." — The  Florida  Times- 
Union)  March  12,  1885. 


23* 


ELECTRO-MAGNETIC 

BELTS,  ABDOMINAL  SUPPORTERS, 

CHEST-PROTECTORS,  INSOLES, 

AND 

OTHER  APPLIANCES  FOR  THE  HUMAN  BODY, 

INVENTED   BY 

Dr.  Elizabeth  J.  French, 

OF  PHILADELPHIA,  PA. 


This  invention — the  form  and  combination  of  metal  magnets — is 
peculiarly  adapted  to  various  appliances  to  be  worn  on  the  human 
body,  and  for  insoles,  generating  a  silent,  but  constant,  current  of 
electricity,  stimulating  and  equalizing  the  circulation,  removing  and 
preventing 

WEAKNESS,  DEBILITY,  PROLAPSUS,  COUGHS,  COLDS, 

DYSPEPSIA,  RHEUMATISM,  CRAMPS,  COLD 

FEET,  AND  SIMILAR  COMPLAINTS. 

The  INSOLES  are  but  one-sixteenth  of  an  inch  in  thickness,  to  be 
worn  in  the  boots  or  shoes,  and  are  invaluable  to  old  or  young,  weak 
or  strong.  They  are  inexpensive,  very  effective,  and  WILL  CURE  COLD 
FEET.  As  an  experiment,  they  cost  but  FIFTY  CENTS  a  pair;  as  an 
investment,  they  have  no  equal.  They  return  the  purchaser  manifold 
in  comfort  and  saving  of  doctor's  bills,  and  the  expense  and  incon- 
venience of  disagreeable  drugs. 

The  ELECTRO-MAGNETIC  CHEST-PROTECTOR  not  only  supplies  the 
place  of  all  other  chest-protectors,  as  a  covering  for  the  lungs,  but 
imparts  a  magnetic  warmth  to  the  entire  throat,  lungs,  and  stomach. 

These  ELECTRO-MAGNETIC  APPLIANCES  should  usually  be  worn  over 
one  or  more  of  the  undergarments,  especially  in  persons  of  a  weak 
and  sensitive  organism,  the  electric  current  generated  by  the  heat 
and  moisture  being,  in  many  cases,  too  powerful  when  worn  next  to 
the  body. 

These  goods  are  the  best,  being  lighter,  neater,  more  serviceable, 
and  therefore  cheaper  than  any  others  in  the  market. 

A  LIBERAL  DISCOUNT  TO  AGENTS. 


Address  all  communications  to 

ELIZABETH  J.  FRENCH, 
Or  her  authorized  agent, 

OTTO   FLEMMING, 

1009  Arch  Street,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 


PRICE-LIST 

OP 

ELIZABETH  J.  FRENCH'S 

PATENTED  COMBINATION  BATTERIES,  ELECTRODES,  AND 

ELECTRO-MAGNETIC  APPLIANCES  FOR 

THE  HUMAN  BODY. 


No.  1  Combination  Battery,  Complete $25.00 

"2            "                "               "           35.00 

"3            "                "               "           40.00 

"    4            "                "         with  SILVER  HELIX 55.00 

"     1  Set,  Six  Combination  Electrodes 6.00 

"    2    "     Seven         "                  "           8.00 

"    3    "    Eight        "                  "           10.00 

APPLIANCES  FOB  THE  HUMAN  BODY  CONTAINING  THE 
PATENTED  COMBINATION  METAL  MAGNETS. 

Abdominal  Supporters $8.00 

Belts 5.00 

Liver-Pads 3.00 

Brace  for  the  Shoulders  and  Back.     No.  1 8.00 

"          "  "  "       "  "2  9.00 

"          «  «  "       «  "3 10.00 

Chest-Protector 2.00 

Insoles 50 

Electric  Complexion  Powder.     Per  box 50 

"       Hair  Tonic.     Per  bottle 75 

Cocoanut  Oil.    Per  bottle     .  1.00 


A  LIBERAL  DISCOUNT  TO  AGENTS. 


FOR  SALE  BY 
ELIZABETH  J.  FRENCH, 

Or  her  manufacturer  and  authorized  agent, 

OTTO   FLEMMING, 

1009  Arch  Street,  Philadelphia. 


ELECTRIC  BAKING  POWDER. 

WARRANTED    THE    MOST    PERFECTLY    PURE 
CHEMICAL    COMPOUND    EVER    OF- 
FERED  TO   THE   PUBLIC. 


The  inventor  of  the  Electric  Baking  Powder,  Dr.  ELIZABETH 
J.  FRENCH,  having  for  years  made  the  SCIENCE  of  COOKING  a, 
practical  study,  has  after  a  series  of  experiments,  in  which  some  of 
the  most  eminent  chemists  in  America  have  assisted,  succeeded  in 
producing  a  Baking  Powder  not  only  harmless  but  beneficial  to 
the  human  system  and  which  restores  to  the  flour  the  phosphates 
lost  in  grinding. 

The  combination  is  so  exactly  proportioned  that  in  the  rising  pro- 
cess each  ingredient  is  so  far  neutralized  by  the  other  that  not  a 
trace  of  the  compound  remains  after  baking,  in  the  delicious 
Bread,  Biscuits,  Rolls,  Muffins,  Waffles,  Buckwheat  and  Griddle  Cakes, 
Fritters,  Potpies,  Dumplings,  Puddings,  Sweet  Cakes,  and  all  varieties 
of  Pastry;  and  the  nutrition,  and  sweetness  of  the  flour  is  pre- 
served, without  alkaline  taste  or  odor. 

IT    IS   ANTI-DYSPEPTIC. 

It  is  infallible,  convenient,  wholesome,  and  invaluable  to  the 
economical  housewife,  as  it  requires  but  one  quarter  the  shorten- 
ing, and  but  one  half  the  eggs  used  in  any  other  mode  of  cooking. 
The  receipts  on  the  labels  are  all  from  practical  tests.  The  Electric 
Baking  Powder  will  not  lose  its  virtues  by  age  or  in  any  climate. 
After  fifteen  years  of  CONSTANTLY  INCREASING  DEMAND  we 
unhesitatingly  pronounce  it  the  BEST. 

All  our  agents  are  instructed  to  return  the  money  in  any  case 
the  Powder  does  not  prove  all  we  claim  for  it. 


ELECTRIC  BAKING  POWDER  COMPANY, 

PHILADELPHIA, 
Pa. 


New  Path  in  Electro-Therapeutics. 

BY   ELIZABETH   J.    FKENCH, 

Author  of  a  complete  manual  of  "  Electro-  Therapeutics ,"  "Alcohol,  an  E/ieiuyJ 
"  Family  Guide,"  etc. 


OPINIONS  OF  THE  PRESS. 

"  A  very  neat  little  volume,  entitled  a  'New  Path  in  Electrical  Therapeu- 
tics,' by  Elizabeth  J.  French,  and  handsomely  printed  and  published  by  .1.  1$. 
Lippincott  Company,  Philadelphia.  Its  object  is  to  describe  and  vindicate  Mrs. 
French's  great  discovery  of  electrical  cranial  diagnosis,  and  a  scientific  appli- 
cation of  nine  different  currents  of  electricity  to  the  cure  of  disease.  The  style 
is  clear,  concise,  and  easy,  showing  that  the  heart  of  the  authoress  is  in  the  sub- 
ject, and  the  authorities  cited  in  support  of  her  position  are  respectable  and 
numerous." — The  Press,  Philadelphia. 

"  The  book  is  written  in  an  easy,  graceful  style,  and  contains  much  of  histori- 
cal and  scieiiiinc  information  upon  the  subject  of  Therapeutics.  It  is  also  valu- 
able as  a  curiosity  of  scientific  investigation." — The  Commonwealth,  Boston. 

"The  work  is  written  in  an  easy  and  comprehensive  style,  and  is  really 
curious  and  interesting." — Philadelphia  Inquirer. 

"  The  author  evidently  lias  a  very  clear  idea  of  her  subject,  and  though  her 
theory  is  rather  astounding,  still,  being  supported  by  such  an  eminent  authority 
as  Dr.  Ferrier,  and  by  a  successful  practice  in  cases  described  in  the  volume 
liefore  us,  can  hardly  fail  to  attract  attention  from  the  best  scientific  minds."  — 
The  Times  and  Messenger,  New  York. 

"The  work  is  void  of  technicalities,  and  gives  a  very  lucid  review  of  Anatomy, 
Hygiene,  and  Historical  Medicine." — Tlie  Ohio  Democrat. 

"The  book  contains  a  vast  amount  of  very  useful  information  on  tlie  subject 
of  health,  and  should  be  read  by  all,  and  have  a  place  in  every  family  libr.iry." 
— Temperance  Blewing,  Philadelphia. 

"Dr.  Ferrier,  the  London  scientist,  is  somewhat  late  in  making  public  bis 
supposition  that  'disease  is  mapped  out  on  the  brain,  and  maybe  diagnosed.' 
lu  a  recent  work  on  Electrical  Therapeutics,  by  Elizabeth  J.  French,  the  scien- 
tific application  of  electricity  reveals  a  new  and  wonderful  phase  in  anthropol- 
ogy. '  It  is  many  years  since  I  discovered  the  human  brain  is  a  chart  ui>on 
which  may  be  found  delineated  all  the  organs  of  the  human  body,  and  a  record 
of  their  exact  conditions.'  Our  American  lady  should  be  sustained,  and  the 
laurels  should  be  hers." — Fort  Wayne  Sentinel. 

'•  Those  who  sneer  at  the  idea  of  cranial  diagnosis,  as  developed  by  Mrs. 
French,  may  perhaps  have  more  faith  in  it,  now  that  it  has  been  ailnjited,  not 
discovered,  by  a  great  English  scientist." — Sunday  Republic,  Philadelphia. 

"  In  this  startling  treatise  the  lady  proclaims  that  not  only  has  she  practised, 
but  that  (die  teaches,  the  science  of  diagnosing  disease  through  the  brain.  The 
lady's  claims  are  no  bolder  than  she  seems  prepared  to  substantiate  ;  ami  just 
now  comes  the  announcement  that  Dr.  Ferrier,  of  King's  College,  London,  Eng- 
land, is  about  to  make  public  his  experiments  on  the  same  subject.  The  lady 
has  won  the  emoluments  of  fame  l>y  her  early  penetration,  and  whilst  Dr.  Fer- 
rier stands  at  the  portal  of  discovery,  Dr.  French  has  almost  perfected  a  grand 
science.  If  this  bo  charlatanism  and  humbnggery,  let  UK  sejfk  to  expose  it  by 
stern  and  rigorous  investigation,  but  until  then  let  her  who  has  won  wear  the 
laurels." — Garretl  County  Gazette,  Maryland. 

"Professor  French  in  her  new  work  gives  a  very  full  account  of  her  great 
discovery  respecting  electrical  cranial  diagnosis  and  the  scientific  application  of 
nine  different  currents  of  electricity  to  the  cure  of  disease.  Jt  gives  a  thorough 
system  of  hygiene,  and  one  of  the  most  consistent  we  ever  read.  However  much 
may  be  said  against  her  electrical  jianacea  as  an  hallucination  or  otherwise,  she 
has  wrought  wonderful  cures  in  chronic  and  physician-abandoned  ciises.  Hap- 
pily, there  is  no  check  of  potency  to  the  progress  of  science." — O/iio  Farmer. 


University  of  California 

SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 

305  De  Neve  Drive  -  Parking  Lot  17  •  Box  951388 

LOS  ANGELES,  CALIFORNIA  90095-1388 

Return  this  material  to  the  library  from  which  it  was  borrowed. 


JUL  0  ?  ZOO! 


3  1970  00068  5344 


